Fallen
by Naodrith
Summary: Sequel to "Let Go." What happened five thousand years ago in Egypt? Bakura, Yami, Mai, and five others are about to find out firsthand. Bakura x Mai, one-sided Joey x Mai, semi-con Mai x Yugi. Songfic with songs by Evanescence.
1. Prologue

A/N: This story, from here on out, becomes somewhat AU. I reserve the right to take /extreme/ liberties with canon. That said, I present the prologue to "Fallen."  
  
Prologue  
  
Once there was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt who had two sons. The boys, though as different as night and day, were twins. No one alive could say which was the elder, for their mother had died in childbirth, and in a futile attempt to save her life, the midwife forgot to mark which boy came first.  
  
One was named Teremun, which means "loved by his father." And he was, indeed. He was a bright, passionate creature, much given to lowering taxes and trying to make things easier for the commoners. He loved all who came into contact with him, regardless of their feelings toward him.  
  
The other was called Akil, "intelligent." He was slighter than his brother, pale and quiet.  
  
So, when the boys were seven, the pharaoh went to his advisor to ask which should be made his heir.  
  
Now, the advisor was a power-hungry man, who wanted only to rule Egypt. He knew that while there was little chance of ever ascending the throne himself, he could make himself the power behind it. Teremun would be easy to manipulate. However, Akil was cold and calculating. The advisor suspected that Akil already knew of his plans.  
  
So, the advisor told the pharaoh that Teremun would bring Egypt into a Golden Age. The pharaoh believed him, because the advisor's son was a sorceror, who could occasionally foretell the future.  
  
The advisor waited until the twins were thirteen, then had the pharaoh murdered in such a way that no one knew it was murder.  
  
Teremun mourned for his father, and listened to the advisor. In time, they became friends, of a sort. Teremun would have died for his advisor, and the man knew it, and used it to gain further influence.  
  
But Akil...Akil was every bit as dangerous as the advisor thought.  
  
He had fallen in love with a noble-born girl, called Shizu. She was betrothed to the advisor's son, and had often used her influence to spy. She heard of the assassination, and who had done it, and brought the information to Akil.  
  
He knew, of course, how his brother felt about the advisor, but Akil was not an emotional boy. He immediately set in motion plots to kill the advisor.  
  
It worked. Unfortunately, it was immediately obvious that this was murder.  
  
Teremun, half mad with grief, decreed that no one should rest until the killer was found. Afraid that Shizu would be implicated, Akil came forward, knowing that his brother would not harm him.  
  
Of course, the young pharaoh could not kill his brother. Akil was outlawed, and, furious that he had not been pardoned, decided to get his revenge.  
  
Life went on, and when the twins were sixteen, events transpired the likes of which Egypt had not seen, and would never see again. It was then that magic vanished from the world, which was threatened by terrible monsters, called forth by the advisor's son.  
  
History books, of course, will tell you none of this. Their writers would have you believe that the twins and the monsters were never there.  
  
There are only eight who know the whole story.  
  
The sorceror, should you ask him, will smile gently and tell you that magic does not exist.  
  
His brother will hit him, grin, and insist that magic is real, they've both seen it.  
  
The warrior will shrug. "Yeah, it happened. So what? You wouldn't believe me if I told you."  
  
The handmaiden will turn away quickly to hide her tears - tears for things lost and things found. She says nothing.  
  
Two of them are boys, and as likely as not you will find them playing cards together. One is silent, staring grimly at the wall. The other smiles. "Oh, yes, that. Of course it's real. And you know how it started? With an Evil Wristwatch of Doom."  
  
The first laughs at that, and throws a card at his companion. "Yes, and that's how it ended, and that's why I'm here talking to you instead of being a bloody corpse."  
  
That makes six witnesses.  
  
The other two? Why, the twins, of course.  
  
Can you ask them about it?  
  
It all depends on whether or not the boys are right.  
  
Does it begin with the Evil Wristwatch of Doom? In a way, yes.  
  
And is that how it ends?  
  
We shall see. 


	2. Imaginary

Chapter One: Imaginary  
  
It was a very good thing that Yami Bakura was a spirit. It meant that he didn't need to sleep.  
  
Well, actually, his body /did/, and as a result, the past two months had been a sort of waking dream.  
  
No...it was worse than that.  
  
A waking nightmare.  
  
And his nights? Prayed-for oblivion, never received.  
  
On this particular night in mid-March, he left the house around one in the morning, wandering aimlessly, eyes wide and bloodshot. He rarely closed them, anymore; that brought back the visions.  
  
Visions of fire, of blood, of promises broken and trust shattered.  
  
Bakura sighed and collapsed on a bench in the park, gazing out into the darkness.  
  
"This isn't fair," he whispered. "Gods, why is it me? What did I have to do with anything?"  
  
He wished that the dreams weren't real, but knew that they were. He wished, at least, that his imagination was embellishing some of the horror...  
  
Unfortunately, Bakura didn't have much of an imagination.  
  
"That's one good thing," he murmured. "I know I'm not going insane...I know you're there."  
  
He spoke to something he couldn't see, knowing that it was hidden somewhere in the bushes behind him. It was always hiding, had been following him for weeks without end, speaking only when spoken to, as it did now.  
  
"I want...what is mine." The voice grated, hissed, completely inhuman.  
  
Bakura sighed and twisted, resting his chin on the back of the bench. "Yes, well, I still think you've got me confused with Ryou, because I have nothing."  
  
The creature snarled. "I know you have it! I want it back! I can sense it!"  
  
The spirit got up, wincing. "Then, whatever it is, take it already, and leave me alone. I have enough to deal with."  
  
The thing followed him home, up the stairs, and into his bedroom. Bakura's cat, Atenna, woke instantly, hissed at the thing, and dashed into the closet.  
  
"Aw," Bakura muttered. "You've untrained her. She can't assassinate if she's scared."  
  
He didn't touch the lightswitch, but closed the door, listening to the creature's restless movements.  
  
Finally, it growled. "It is not here! I want it! Where is it?"  
  
"I thought you could sense it."  
  
"Not at this range. So close, but not close enough..."  
  
Bakura rubbed his aching head and groped for the doorknob, then decided instead to sit on his bed. "You realize that I can't help you, right?"  
  
"Then you must bring me to one who can!"  
  
"Oh, sure. I'll go wake Ryou. 'Hi, hikari, there's a demon in my bedroom.' Right. He'll believe that."  
  
There was an uncomfortable silence. "I'm not a demon," the thing finally said.  
  
"Oh, yes, you are," Bakura said, gaining conviction. "I know about demons. Keep to the shadows, obsessive, et cetera. And I feel I must tell you that there are no otherworldly or demonic objects here."  
  
"I know it's here!" the demon moaned. "I could feel it! It's mine!"  
  
There was a thud as the demon knocked the dresser over. Bakura listened to it rooting through his things for only a few minutes before saying thoughtfully, "Unless you mean the Evil Wristwatch of Doom."  
  
He immediately felt the air move, and then the demon pounced. Because it was very dark, Bakura couldn't see a thing, could only feel claws digging into his shoulders as it pressed him down.  
  
"Because," he continued, "if that's what you want, take it. It's evil. I mean, I don't know where it is - we haven't been able to find it - "  
  
"Hey, 'Kura?" a sleepy voice outside the door said. "What's wrong? More nightmares?"  
  
"Oh, no," Bakura said cheerfully. "Just demons. Only one, actually. He wants something."  
  
Ryou hadn't really been listening. "Because I heard a noise, and I was wondering - "  
  
The demon leapt off of Bakura at lightning speed and wrenched the door open. Ryou made a sound that might have been "Awp!" as it dashed past.  
  
Bakura took his own sweet time getting up. The pain in his shoulders wasn't too bad, and in a moment he joined his other half in the hallway.  
  
"What was that?" Ryou whispered.  
  
"Demon."  
  
They went downstairs, Ryou clinging to Bakura's arm, to find the demon clawing up the sofa. "I want what is mine!" it shrieked.  
  
Bakura, who was really rather tired of it all, flicked on the light.  
  
The demon shrank back into a corner, raising shadowy, three-fingered hands to cover its catlike yellow eyes. It was tall, perhaps six feet, and had gray, translucent skin.  
  
"Like I said," Bakura repeated, "no otherworldly or demonic objects here. Except the Evil Watch. And the Millennium Items. Oh, and if your search extends to the rest of the town, I'm not too sure about the pharaoh, you might want to look into that."  
  
"I'll be back," the demon cried, and vanished into a thick mist that set off the smoke alarm.  
  
Ryou seemed frozen to the spot, so Bakura spent several minutes struggling with that infernal, shrieking object. It refused to go off, even when he wrenched it from the ceiling and threw it at the opposite wall - several times.  
  
"Oh, Yami," Ryou said at last, and picked the smoke alarm up. He pressed a small red button clearly marked "Off."  
  
"It stopped," Bakura whispered, collapsing on the ruin of the sofa.  
  
"We have to tell Yami Yugi," Ryou finally said, his eyes more than slightly wild.  
  
"Are you kidding? He's a pharaoh. He'll feel honor-bound to do something." Bakura shook his head. "No, we'll handle this ourselves. First thing tomorrow, we have to find that watch, and when the demon comes back tomorrow night, I'll give it to him. And then - no worries."  
  
**I linger in the doorway  
  
Of alarm clocks screaming, monsters calling my name  
  
Let me stay where the wind will whisper to me  
  
Where the raindrops as they're falling tell a story**  
  
They didn't find the Evil Wristwatch of Doom that day, or the next, or on any of the several following days. The demon, having finally decided that skulking around wouldn't get it anywhere, returned each night to claw up the furniture and howl threats.  
  
"This has to stop," Ryou finally told his darker half. "Maybe /you/ can get by without sleep, but my grades are dropping. We're never going to find it. I mean, it's made of gold - probably it's been stolen."  
  
Bakura, who was idly playing with the band of his own watch (a simple digital affair, in no way like the Evil Watch they needed), shrugged. "The demon thinks it's here - if it is, indeed, the watch that he wants. I hope so. There's something about it - I want it as far from me as possible. In the seventh circle of hell, I hope."  
  
Atenna jumped up beside him on the chair and attempted to bite the watch. Bakura jerked his arm out of the way. "No, 'Tenna! You /never/ attack me! Never!"  
  
Ryou lightly ran a finger over the scar on his nose, courtesy of one of Atenna's late-night attacks. "Maybe she's mistaken you for me."  
  
"She knows the difference, Ryou." Bakura glared at his hikari. "And I'll have you know I've trained her for rescue, too."  
  
Ryou bit his lip in an attempt not to snicker. "Oh, really? Help, help, little Timmy's fallen in the well!"  
  
Bakura, who, being a spirit, did not understand movie references, scowled. "I don't /know/ anyone named Timmy. And where would you except to find a well?"  
  
"Just joking." Ryou watched, dark eyes amused, as Atenna continued to stalk Bakura's arm. "Now, back to the issue. We have to get that demon to leave us alone."  
  
The spirit had been forced to sit on the back of the chair, one hand clutching it for balance, the other raised above his head where Atenna couldn't reach. "Well, it hasn't hurt /us/. Just let it keep searching. Gods know /we/ aren't having any luck. Oh, and I'm going shopping with Mai in Kyoto next week for a few days."  
  
"You're going to leave me here alone with a demon?" Ryou squeaked.  
  
"It follows /me/, Ryou. You'll get some peace and quiet. Isn't that what you want?"  
  
**In my field of paper flowers  
  
And candy clouds of lullaby  
  
I lie inside myself for hours  
  
And watch my purple sky fly over me**  
  
Bakura and Mai left the following Friday. Since she did not know about the demon, Mai was a bit startled when Ryou clung to his yami's leg and refused to let go.  
  
"Get off, Ryou!"  
  
"It will come back and /eat/ me!"  
  
"Ryou, you're hurting me!"  
  
"That cat of yours is going to kill me!"  
  
"Ryou, I think you're giving me a bruise!"  
  
"You've never gone on vacation before!"  
  
"If I can't walk, it'll be /your fault/, Ryou!"  
  
"Yami, don't leave, don't leave, just wait a few minutes, I'll call Yugi and stay at his house, just don't go, it's going to /eat me/..."  
  
"What in the world...?" Mai murmured.  
  
Bakura finally detached his hikari, called Yugi, and made arrangements for Ryou to stay there for the weekend. After assuring Mai that the hysterical albino would be fine, the two drove off in the direction of Kyoto.  
  
They arrived in the late afternoon, checked in at the hotel (same room, two beds), and spent the remainder of the day window-shopping. As might be expected, Bakura didn't sleep that night, staring at the ceiling and trying to pretend that he could sense the demon.  
  
Well, his imagination was awful, and he knew perfectly well that it wasn't there.  
  
Maybe it couldn't get into such a crowded place?  
  
~I shouldn't have left Ryou alone,~ Bakura thought ruefully. ~If that thing is following /him/ now, he'll never forgive me...~  
  
Despite worries about the demon's sudden absence, Bakura enjoyed the weekend. He got his birthday shopping done for all of his semi-friends, and got some quality snogging time with Mai.  
  
**Don't say I'm not in touch  
  
With this rampant chaos - your reality  
  
I know well what lies beyond my sleeping refuge  
  
The nightmare I built my own world to escape**  
  
The demon, in fact, had taken advantage of the absence of the two and that awful cat-thing to make a more thorough search of their house, from cellar to attic. And finally, it found what it was looking for.  
  
So close, it was /so close/ that the signal returned, a bright flash of power. The demon, ready to knock down walls to get at the object, that beautiful thing called Sathaugula, paused.  
  
No. Those humans - they had /tried/ to help. It was not their fault that they couldn't sense Sathaugula. It would be unnecessarily cruel to destroy their home as well as their furniture.  
  
There was a better way...  
  
Atenna, whose presence at Yugi's house irritated Yami's allergies, found no solace there, for on Saturday night, the demon came looking for her.  
  
When it pounced, the cat shrieked and tried to bite at the slippery flesh that held her. All she got for her troubles was a shoe thrown at her by the sleepy Ryou.  
  
"Quiet, 'Tenna!"  
  
The boy was a bit surprised to find the cat missing the next morning, though Yami didn't care.  
  
Bakura returned late Sunday night, collected his hikari, and reassured him that Atenna would show up when she pleased.  
  
Neither expected her to race out of their house the moment they opened the door, screaming and spitting. She clawed her way up Bakura's left side and crouched on his head, snarling.  
  
Ignoring the blood, Bakura stepped into the house and switched on a light, somewhat surprised to find the furniture untouched.  
  
"Ryou, s'okay, no one's here. And I did some research - demons don't eat people." Bakura dropped his bags and rubbed at his temples. The blood from Atenna's frantic attempt to hide didn't matter - not compared to the nightmares. They were definitely getting worse.  
  
Ryou, emboldened by this revelation, ran upstairs, turning on lights as he went. Atenna graciously allowed Bakura to drag her off of his head. He dumped her on the chair, where she sprawled out, staring at him with her brilliantly green eyes.  
  
"You saw something," the spirit said quietly. "Something that frightened you."  
  
The cat, being a cat, simply purred and began to wash her front legs.  
  
**In my field of paper flowers  
  
And candy clouds of lullaby  
  
I lie inside myself for hours  
  
And watch my purple sky fly over me**  
  
Bakura woke late that night screaming from a dream he couldn't remember.  
  
Ryou woke almost instantly, of course, and ran into his yami's bedroom. "Yami, what's wrong? More nightmares?"  
  
Bakura bit his lip hard. "I think so. I don't remember. But whatever's going to happen, it's going to happen /soon/."  
  
After being assured that his yami was fine, Ryou left, intending to return to bed - after all, he had school the next day. But he was stopped by the sight of Atenna, crouching beside the wall, hissing at something.  
  
The demon.  
  
Ryou considered returning to his yami, but didn't when he realized that the demon was looking at him with something like longing.  
  
"It's mine," the creature whispered. "She can't bring it to me. I /want/ it...my Sathaugula..."  
  
"If I knew where it was," Ryou began.  
  
"I know!" the demon shrieked. "I know where to find it...come with me, help me..."  
  
Casting one last glance at his yami's closed door, Ryou followed the demon down the hall and into a long-forgotten room. He sneezed as dust filled his lungs, squinted, and saw the demon hovering beside a small hole in the wall.  
  
"In there," the demon whispered feverishly. "Sathaugula..."  
  
Ryou knelt beside the hole and reached in, realizing that the demon couldn't have done so without breaking something - its fingers were too thick. The boy's hand closed on something familiar.  
  
"Oh! It's my watch! How did it get in here?" He pulled the watch out and stared at it. Moonlight shone through the room's lone window, making the gold and crystal watch glitter.  
  
"Sathaugula!" the demon cried, reaching for it...and recoiled. "It is broken..."  
  
Ryou stood and walked over to the window. "Well, it's stopped working. I'll have to replace the batteries. If you like, I can have it ready for tomorrow night."  
  
The demon gave him what might be considered a grin, and vanished into smoke.  
  
Ryou stared at his watch, at the picture of the ankh on it, at the motionless hands.  
  
And remembered.  
  
"It is an Object of Evil. It must be destroyed..."  
  
"An Evil Wristwatch of Doom? I doubt it, Yami..."  
  
It didn't look very threatening. It wasn't even working.  
  
~And it will be gone tomorrow,~ Ryou told himself. ~Then that demon will stop bothering us, and maybe Yami's nightmares will stop...~  
  
It couldn't hurt to keep it for one day.  
  
**Swallowed up in the sound of my screaming  
  
Cannot cease for the fear of silent nights  
  
Oh, how I long for the deep sleep dreaming  
  
The goddess of imaginary light**  
  
Mai came over the next day after school to watch a movie with Bakura. Ryou, trying to keep his wristwatch out of his yami's sight, stayed in the kitchen, wearing it and wishing that he didn't have to give it up.  
  
He'd taken it to a jeweler's, and it ran fine now. Well, aside from the fact that every few minutes the hands would stop momentarily, then jerk ahead to the proper time. Ryou wore the watch on his wrist now, hoping that the demon would take awhile to come. He'd always rather liked the watch.  
  
"Eiaagh!" he heard Mai yelp, then giggle and squeal, "Stop it, stop it, Ryou might come back..."  
  
"What? It's nothing he hasn't seen before..."  
  
Ryou winced. He'd walked in on those two far more often than he would have liked, and by now had learned to stay far, far away when there was the slightest chance that they would be together.  
  
Trying to ignore the shrieks and laughs from the living room, Ryou examined the watch as it stopped again.  
  
And didn't start.  
  
Actually, it /started/, but the hands whirled in the wrong direction, much faster than usual. Ryou watched, fascinated, and began counting.  
  
One day back...two...  
  
It moved faster and faster, then began to slow. By Ryou's calculations, the watch had moved back into January by now.  
  
It stopped dead on 11:04 PM. Ryou blinked, counted backwards.  
  
New Year's Eve?  
  
"Mai," he called. "What time did Yami - mine, I mean - faint? On New Year's Eve?"  
  
Both ignored Bakura's indignant mutter, "I did /not/ faint."  
  
"Er," Mai said, sounding flustered. "Around eleven, I think."  
  
"Oh." Ryou's eyes widened. "OH."  
  
Bakura and Mai entered the kitchen together, arms around each other's waists. Bakura zeroed in on the watch. "Is that - ? It is! You found the Evil Watch of Doom! And you didn't get rid of it?!"  
  
Ryou dragged his eyes from the watch and stared at his yami, aware that he was trembling. "It moved /backwards/. To New Year's Eve. When you fainted. When you had the first nightmare." He looked down again and felt slightly ill. "It's spinning again, really fast, backwards..."  
  
Bakura reached out and gently turned Ryou's wrist over so that he could work on undoing the band. "Get this off. It's dangerous."  
  
The world tilted. And spun.  
  
And faded to black.  
  
**In my field of paper flowers  
  
And candy clouds of lullaby  
  
I lie inside myself for hours  
  
And watch my purple sky fly over me**  
  
When Bakura could see again, he definitely wasn't in his kitchen anymore.  
  
He sat up and suddenly realized that his ever-present headache was gone.  
  
"Akil," someone cried from somewhere nearby, someone whose voice was vaguely familiar. "Where are you? Something's happened..."  
  
~Oh, yes,~ Bakura thought dizzily. ~Something has very much happened.~  
  
A blonde girl ran in and dropped to her knees beside him, purple eyes sparkling. "It's the pharaoh. He's taken ill. Isn't that fantastic?"  
  
Bakura wanted to think that she was Mai, but knew immediately that she wasn't. Her hair wasn't all blonde - it was dark at the roots. Her skin was tanned bronze, and there were flecks of blue in those eyes.  
  
Those /eyes/...  
  
"Oh, Ra," he gasped.  
  
"I know!" the girl half-shrieked. She kissed him exuberantly. "Our work might be done for us!"  
  
"Oh, /Ra/," Bakura repeated.  
  
The girl pulled away, frowning. "Akil? Something wrong?"  
  
"We're in ancient Egypt, aren't we," he said morosely. "You're Shizu, aren't you. And it's not imaginary..."  
  
~~  
  
A/N: Hmm. I don't like that ending, but I can't think of anything better. Anyway, if you hadn't noticed yet, this is written in a different style. Third-person POV, for one thing.  
  
The whole demon thing is drawn heavily from "Draco Sinister" by Cassandra Claire. It's a Harry Potter fic. Love it, love it. Oh, and belated thanks to my dear friend Phoenix, who doesn't watch Yu-Gi-Oh! and had no idea of my plots, but suggested the Evil Wristwatch of Doom, which works perfectly. I believe I asked her for a completely random object...she thought socks, or a watch, but if there are socks, they must be ducky socks, and...no. Just...don't ask.  
  
Next Chapter: Everybody's Fool. Just who came to Egypt with Bakura, anyway? And how on Earth will Mai react to Shizu? Is the demon still searching for Sathaugula? 


	3. Everybody's Fool

Chapter Two: Everybody's Fool  
  
Yami Yugi woke to find several people, most of them quite familiar, hovering over him.  
  
"Oh, my head," he groaned.  
  
"About damn time," Seto Kaiba muttered, turning swiftly away and striding over to check on some burning incense.  
  
"Oh," Yami murmured. "You're speaking Ancient Egyptian. I didn't know you could do that."  
  
"Yeah, big surprise for all of us," Joey said. "Feeling better? You collapsed. Kaiba did too - " triumphant grin - "but he woke up pretty quickly. The kingdom's in an uproar. They think you're dying or something."  
  
Mai, who had a companionable arm around Ryou's shoulders, said gently, "If you're feeling better, we have to find Bakura. Ryou can't sense him."  
  
Yami blinked, sat up, and glanced around. There seemed to be rather a lot of white-robed priests in the room. He only recognized two - Kaiba and his little brother, Mokuba. They both seemed to be trying as hard as they could to appear nonchalant. Joey, Mai, and Ryou, of course, stood beside the bed.  
  
"Where's Yugi?"  
  
"Went to get some herbs," Joey said. "So Kaiba can make a potion to make you well. I mean, we /know/ you're well, but hey - superstitious Egyptians, they want magic..."  
  
It was getting harder and harder to think. Yami surveyed the room a second time, and said pointedly, "The three of you are half-naked."  
  
Mai tugged at her barely-adequate top. "Yes, well, I seem to be a handmaiden. Joey is a Palace Guard, and Ryou...well, we're not sure about Ryou." The pale boy was dressed only in what seemed to be a short white skirt.  
  
Yami massaged his temples. "All right. Now that you've explained absolutely /nothing/ - "  
  
"Oh, right," Joey said. "We've somehow been sent back to Egypt by an Evil Wristwatch of Doom."  
  
Ryou nearly burst into tears at that point. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! But the demon wanted it fixed, and everything went wrong, and I'm sorry, I should have told you, but Yami said not to, and if anything's happened to him I'll just /die/..."  
  
"You know, we're very lucky," Mai noted suddenly. "I mean, normally we wouldn't have been allowed in to talk to you, but Kaiba took it so well and gave us clearance without even wondering what was going on..."  
  
Yami sighed. "So. Let me get this straight. I'm the pharaoh again."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"And this is before the Shadow Games?"  
  
"I suppose."  
  
"Then why can't I remember anything? I mean, I don't - I don't know /anything/ about this time. Not anymore. Just those dreams, and they stopped ages ago..."  
  
Ryou buried his face in Mai's shoulder. "I'm sorry," he wailed. "I'm sorry, so sorry, I should have told you..."  
  
Feeling quite resigned to his fate to never understand anything, Yami asked gently, "What, Ryou?"  
  
"About the demon, the nightmares, the watch. I still have it, but - it's stopped, it doesn't work, I don't know how to get us home..."  
  
Kaiba sighed and shooed the other priests out of the room. Once he had closed the door, he leaned on the wall, every inch the icy CEO they knew, aside from the robes.  
  
"I think you'd better start from the beginning."  
  
**Perfect by nature  
  
Icons of self-indulgence  
  
Just what we all need  
  
More lies about a world that**  
  
It took Ryou nearly an hour to lay out the tale - the nightmares, the demon, everything he could remember that his yami had told him. When he finished, there was silence for a moment.  
  
Yugi had joined them around the part where the demon first appeared, and was the first to speak. "So, can we see the watch? What did you call it - Satagala?"  
  
"Sathaugula," Ryou said miserably. The name of the demonic object was burned into his mind. He held out his wrist, visibly rubbed raw by his feverish attempts to remove the watch. "It's stuck. Won't come off."  
  
Yugi tried tugging at the band. "It's fused together, I think. Creepy. The Millennium Items are gone - "  
  
"Of course," Mai said. "They haven't been created yet."  
  
Mokuba, who had listened quietly to the entire story without moving, finally spoke up. "But why were we brought back? I mean - Seto and I, Mai, Joey..."  
  
"I'm the High Priest," Kaiba told his brother. "And the advisor. Of course I'm here. You, though - I don't know." He glanced at Yami and explained, "I had to find him some spare robes and make up some nonsense about him being my apprentice."  
  
"I bet that Bakura would know," Mai said slowly. "After all, he's the one with nightmares about this. We have to find him."  
  
"How?" Yami asked. "He's a tomb robber. He'll be in hiding. You won't find him."  
  
"I could look," Mokuba offered. "I'm good at being inconspicuous."  
  
Kaiba sighed. "Mokuba, we're in ancient Egypt. This is a huge country, not to mention the desert. The pharaoh is right. We won't find him."  
  
* * *  
  
In fact, it would have been quite easy for Mokuba to find Bakura.  
  
The former spirit (or soon-to-be spirit, his concept of time was thoroughly twisted by now) was currently in a small, cold room several levels below the palace, deep within the catacombs, trying to convince Shizu that he hadn't gone completely mad.  
  
"I must have hit my head!" he said desperately. "It's only temporary loss of memory!"  
  
She glared suspiciously at him. "There's something wrong with your accent," she pointed out. "You sound like one of those Eastern people."  
  
Well, of course he did. He hadn't heard or spoken Egyptian in years. He didn't tell her that, though.  
  
"Yes, that happens sometimes." He nodded in what he hope was a sage manner.  
  
"Since when are you such an expert on medicine?"  
  
"I, uh." He blinked. "I don't...remember?"  
  
Shizu rolled her eyes and stood up. "Well, Akil, when you're feeling well, I need your help with the last stage of the spell."  
  
"What spell?"  
  
She patted him on the head. "The /spell/. You know. The High Priest? I don't want to marry him, so you came up with the plan to put a love spell on him. Then he won't love me anymore, and he'll break the betrothal to be with whoever he falls in love with, and we can be free."  
  
Bakura stood up, staring at her. "I came up with that idea? But you can't - you don't mess with people's emotions." As soon as he'd said it, he cursed his poor memory. He didn't /care/ about emotions, he knew that.  
  
Well, he hadn't cared, anyway. Until Mai...  
  
But that wasn't the point. The point was that if his memory didn't come back soon, Shizu would probably suspect something more than a bump on the head.  
  
As it was, Shizu simply gave him a strange look. "I think I'll ask Seto for advice on how to cure memory loss..."  
  
"Seto?"  
  
"My betrothed," she said slowly, as if speaking to a very small child.  
  
"Wait, /Seto/?" he blurted. "You're...engaged to.../Seto Kaiba/?" ~And his name is still Seto here, ~ Bakura added to himself. ~Unless I'm wrong, and it's someone else entirely, whose name just /happens/ to be Seto. Ah, coincidence. How I miss thee...~  
  
"Kaiba? What kind of name is that?" She seemed reluctant to leave him alone, but did. He listened to her footsteps receding and relaxed somewhat.  
  
He'd forgotten. Of /course/ Kaiba would be here. He'd been involved, Bakura knew that. The High Priest, the pharaoh's nemesis.  
  
~Unless it's only me who came back.~  
  
Well, there was only one way to be sure.  
  
He left the small room and headed in the same direction Shizu had gone. Sure, it was dangerous. He was probably a wanted man.  
  
But he had to know.  
  
**Never was and never will be  
  
Have you no shame, don't you see me?  
  
You know you've got everybody fooled**  
  
Fortunately, Bakura had walked these paths often enough that they were deeply ingrained in his mind, untouched by time, and he caught up to Shizu easily. He walked a few yards behind her, silent as a cat, and idly wondered where Rana was.  
  
He rather missed Rana. /Rana/ wouldn't have run away just because there was a demon in the room. And /Rana/ wouldn't have attacked him for his watch.  
  
Gods, he missed Atenna...  
  
~Oh, it's only been a day! Less! I am such a sentimental idiot...it's Ryou's influence, I swear...~  
  
He stopped abruptly when he turned a corner and realized that he'd lost Shizu, and found something else entirely.  
  
It could have been the same demon; they all looked rather alike. Bakura wasn't sure. All he knew was that this one didn't have the slightly insane cast to its eyes.  
  
"Er," he said.  
  
The demon stared at him. "Things are going to get rather interesting around here."  
  
"Yes, I guessed that." He wanted to turn around and find another route, but remembered something. "You're a demon. They make deals with mortals."  
  
"Sometimes."  
  
Bakura weighed his options. With his memory so disturbingly blank, he was in trouble. And he'd obviously messed up terribly in his past - or present? - life, enough to warrant being imprisoned in the Millennium Ring.  
  
"I need my memory back," he told the demon. "And I need...insurance."  
  
The demon searched his eyes. Bakura gazed solemnly back, and was somewhat startled when it broke into a devious grin.  
  
"All right, mortal...let's deal."  
  
* * *  
  
Shizu didn't go immediately to Seto. She wanted to have the spell prepared, just in case an opportunity presented itself.  
  
She didn't really /need/ Akil. Any of their acquaintances would do.  
  
The first she ran into was a small, dark beauty working as a handmaiden. "Oh, Shizu!" the girl gasped. "It's terrible...the pharaoh has recovered!"  
  
Shizu sighed. "It's all right, Leila. These things happen. It doesn't change the plan. I'm worried right now about Akil. He's lost his memory. What if he never recovers?"  
  
"I think we can manage without him. The pharaoh's got a new slave, looks just like him - it's amazing. He could do."  
  
Shizu thought about that. "Yes, he could do nicely, if we need him. For now, though - the potion."  
  
Leila nodded. "Yes. Almost ready, isn't it?"  
  
Shizu led the smaller girl to a chamber that glowed gold with the effort of containing the magic. "All we have to do is choose someone to cast it," she said. "I can't, I can't be anywhere near when the spell goes off. I thought Akil might like to, but in his condition - "  
  
"I'll do it," Leila said eagerly. "I haven't done anything for the cause yet - let me do it!"  
  
Shizu smiled innocently, pulled a piece of papyrus out of one of the deep pockets in her robe, and began to read it aloud.  
  
* * *  
  
Mai hated the handmaidens.  
  
In an effort to preserve some semblance of sanity among the time-travelers, they'd all decided to play their parts. Mai had been hovering near the other handmaidens, watching them, and had decided that they were all empty- headed idiots.  
  
They giggled and gossiped when no one could hear, but fell silent when anyone of higher status walked by, and bowed.  
  
Almost everyone was of higher status.  
  
Insofar as Mai could tell, most of them didn't do anything but sit around looking pretty. She figured that there would be some fanning and feeding of grapes later on, but not yet.  
  
It was very annoying.  
  
And there was one - a tiny girl, Leila. She seemed to slip off fairly frequently, and whenever she returned, the other girls would flock around her and ask eagerly for information.  
  
Mai hated Leila most of all.  
  
She seemed so fake. She carried herself regally, smiled and spoke softly, refused to answer questions. Not like an ordinary handmaiden at all, really.  
  
And whenever Kaiba happened by the throne room where the girls lounged, Leila's dark eyes narrowed and she half-raised one hand, then let it fall.  
  
Very weird.  
  
Mai missed Bakura, wanted to hold him and kiss him and go /home/. They'd been together for so long, she could barely breathe now without screaming in frustration, when she didn't know where he was, or even if he was alive...  
  
**Look, here she comes now  
  
Bow down and stare in wonder  
  
Oh, how we love you  
  
No flaws when you're pretending  
  
But now I know she**  
  
Bakura stared down at the watch on his wrist, unable to focus properly on anything. Honestly, the demon hadn't even given him all of his memories, but he still felt like his head would explode...  
  
"Sathaugula," the demon said softly. "It is mine. It will soon disappear, and you will forget it - but when you need it, there will it be. It will give you power over time. But remember - when you have used it thrice, I must have it back. Never break a deal with a demon."  
  
"Never," Bakura said. "Actually, that's in the 'Tomb Robber's Handbook.' Rule Fifty-four: 'I will not strike a bargain with a demonic being, then attempt to double-cross it simply because I feel like being contrary.'"  
  
The demon smiled. "You are well-learned. Be wary." It disappeared, and moments later, Sathaugula vanished from Bakura's wrist. He blinked.  
  
"Ow." He clutched at his head. "Ow! Too much! Way too much!" After a moment, the pain faded, and he frowned. "Wait...remember /what/?"  
  
* * *  
  
Joey wasn't exactly sure what a Palace Guard /did/, so simply chose to hang around in the throne room, looking threatening and surreptitiously sneaking glances at Mai.  
  
He really couldn't believe he still had a crush on her. After all, he was with Tea, had been for three months, and Mai was with Bakura, and they were all happy...  
  
But something, something was there. He felt it, knew it. He still loved her. It was warm and it made him glow just to catch a glimpse of her.  
  
He felt slightly guilty, of course, especially /now/. Her handmaiden outfit bordered on indecent, but he was only a teenage boy, and though he knew he shouldn't look, he did.  
  
He saw the hateful glances she threw at Leila, and the wistful look in her eyes when she gazed into space. Thinking of Bakura, probably. She always did.  
  
Joey bit his lip to keep from reacting badly when Kaiba walked in. After all those months, he still couldn't stand the CEO - or High Priest, or whatever. And now, how much worse that he had magic, and walked around smugly lighting torches with a wave of his hand?  
  
Well, okay, he'd only done that /once/.  
  
A blonde girl dressed in dark robes otherwise identical to his followed Kaiba. She tugged on his arm, smiling, and said something. He responded curtly, and she left the room, still smiling.  
  
Joey and Mai were the only ones who caught the look she threw at Leila.  
  
A look that plainly said, 'Do it. Now.'  
  
Yami and Yugi entered at that moment, stood beside Kaiba, and after a moment, the three walked over to the dais. Yami sat on the throne, and the other two hovered nearby. Leila lifted her hand, then let it fall and averted her eyes.  
  
Joey wasn't sure what was going on.  
  
And soon enough, he would wish that he never found out.  
  
**Never was and never will be  
  
You don't know how you've betrayed me  
  
And somehow you've got everybody fooled**  
  
Bakura caught up to Shizu outside the throne room. He could see into it, a bit, saw the group of handmaidens, but didn't notice that one had leapt to her feet, staring at him in disbelief.  
  
That might have been because Shizu slammed him into the wall.  
  
"What are you doing?" she hissed. "You can't be here! Get back in the catacombs!"  
  
"I'm sorry!" he whispered. "But my memory came back, and I've decided that you shouldn't do the love spell."  
  
"What? Why?"  
  
"It's wrong! Very wrong!"  
  
She shrugged. "It's no longer in my hands, Akil. Leila has the power."  
  
"Who? Oh, her. Stop her!"  
  
"I can't go in there! If she does it, and he sees me first, we're doomed!"  
  
"Why?!"  
  
She stared at him, and then smirked. "Well, apparently not /all/ of your memory is back. Come on, darling, you know this. Love spells. Irreversible, breakable only by death. Since I have no intention of dying and we still need him...he can't see me first."  
  
"Breakable by death," Bakura echoed. "Oh. Oh, no. You can't let Leila do it!" He jerked away, and she made a desperate grab for his arm, caught it, and held him. "Let me go! We have to stop her!"  
  
"/You cannot be seen/!"  
  
He wrenched his arm from her grip, tried to run, and was stopped when she tripped him, caught him before he could lose his balance, and kissed him.  
  
It was dizzying, passionate, like he'd never felt before - not that he could remember, anyway. Not even with Mai. ~This,~ he thought, somewhat detached, ~is the only other woman I ever loved.~  
  
So he kissed back, for an instant, then broke away, gasping and unable to tear his eyes from her.  
  
"If you go in there," she told him, "they will kill you. Immediately. No questions asked. Don't. Do it for me. Go back to the catacombs and don't leave."  
  
"Uh," he said. "Will you do that again?"  
  
"Every night, forever, if you like..."  
  
She turned and walked rapidly away, and Bakura sank back against the wall, one hand to his lips. ~Gods, I'm shaking,~ he realized.  
  
~What does that mean? I don't love her. I love Mai.~  
  
Another, less welcome, followed that thought instantly.  
  
~Don't I? ~  
  
**Without the mask, where will you hide?  
  
Can't find yourself, lost in your lie  
  
I know the truth now  
  
I know who you are  
  
And I don't love you anymore**  
  
Mai stared in absolute shock as that - that /woman/ kissed Bakura. /Her/ Bakura. No one else had noticed, no one but Mai, and she was thoroughly horrified.  
  
He'd kissed back. She was sure he had.  
  
She watched as he ran away, chasing after that demon-in-women's-clothing. Watched as the love of her life turned his back on her.  
  
~I hate him. ~  
  
She was wrong.  
  
One other /had/ noticed, Joey, who couldn't help it. He was stationed near the door, had heard most of what was said, and saw the look on Mai's face.  
  
~I have a chance...~  
  
Mai made a split-second decision and ran up onto the dais, ignoring the gasps from the handmaidens. She tugged on Yugi's sleeve.  
  
"Where's Ryou? I have to ask him something."  
  
Yugi shrugged. "I'm not sure." He made a face. "We're /slaves/, you know. Some noble or other probably sent him off to run errands."  
  
* * *  
  
Leila could feel the power coursing through her veins, filling her completely. She couldn't remember to breathe, sometimes.  
  
All that magic, looking for a way out.  
  
~Just point at him, ~ she told herself fiercely. ~And tell it what to do. It will work, Shizu said it would work. And if you hit the wrong person, it won't matter. The spell can be worked again. Just get rid of the power!~  
  
But she knew that if she missed, she wouldn't get a second chance.  
  
Oh, the spell would be worked again, but that took time, and magic, neither of which the rebels had much. That was the bad thing about rebels. They looked upon every little mistake as a disaster.  
  
Unless it was Akil, or Shizu. They were the leaders. They were exempt.  
  
Leila wasn't important.  
  
She couldn't make a mistake.  
  
She lifted her hand, pointed at Kaiba, and whispered, "Go."  
  
Bad luck, that he chose that moment to take a step backwards, startled at what the pharaoh had just said.  
  
Bad luck that he was standing in front of Mai.  
  
Leila watched as the spell hit that new handmaiden, watched as the girl fell to her knees, and knew. Shizu had explained it.  
  
Blurred vision. Pain, as the spell lodged itself. And when you could see again, the first person in your line of sight was the one you would love forever.  
  
Unconditionally.  
  
Till death do us part.  
  
**It never was and never will be  
  
You don't know how you've betrayed me  
  
And somehow you've got everybody fooled  
  
Never was and never will be  
  
You're not real and you can't save me  
  
And somehow now you're everybody's fool**  
  
~~  
  
A/N: No, there's no "Tomb Robber's Handbook." Actually, it's the Evil Overlord List. Very funny. Stupid ff.net won't let me put the link here, so I will put it on my bio page if anyone's interested.  
  
Next Chapter: Going Under. So, who's Mai going to see first? What's going on with Bakura and Shizu? And how will Leila be punished?  
  
Wait, Leila's an OC. No one cares about what happens to /her/. Right.  
  
Oh, and don't expect every chapter to be out this quickly. I have six original stories to work on, a very difficult paper for my English class, and I'm still quite upset that Egyptians don't do gladiator-type combat. Sigh. If /anyone/ can see what I'm planning, I will be thoroughly shocked. That's all. 


	4. Going Under

Chapter Three: Going Under  
  
**Now I will tell you what I've done for you  
  
Fifty thousand tears I've cried  
  
Screaming, deceiving, and bleeding for you  
  
And you still won't hear me**  
  
Luckily - or perhaps /not/ luckily - Leila ran into Bakura first. Literally.  
  
"Oof," he said distantly as they collapsed in a tangled heap.  
  
"Oh, Akil," she whimpered. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, the love spell went wrong - "  
  
"It did?" he said. He pushed her off, then thoughtfully helped her up after standing himself. "That's excellent."  
  
"What?" She looked closer at him, and found that she didn't like what she saw. The normal sadistic glow in his dark eyes was gone, replaced by a thoughtful, faraway glitter. ~He's changed,~ she thought uneasily. ~He's figured something out, and it could spell disaster for us.~ And behind those dazed eyes she caught a glimpse of something she would never identify.  
  
Fear.  
  
He shook his head. "Leila - that's you, yes? Whatever you do, don't try the love spell again. In fact, any plans I've ever made - don't try them. Don't listen to Shizu."  
  
Leila backed away, a bit frightened. "I - I won't, Akil."  
  
"Please," he said. "Call me Bakura. Everyone I care about does."  
  
"Bakura." The name was strange on her lips. "All - all right, I suppose. I have to - do something - far from here." She took two more steps backwards, turned on her heel, and fled.  
  
Bakura watched her go, then cast back into his newly-acquired memory. He needed a weapons room, he needed a sword - any sword would do.  
  
Actually, he'd much rather have a gun, but there didn't seem to be any hope of that, so...  
  
A sword was the next best thing.  
  
As he set off for the nearest armory, he found himself wishing he'd been born a few centuries later. Honestly, these people probably still used copper...  
  
* * *  
  
As she dashed through the catacombs, Leila had one thing on her mind - escape.  
  
Whatever Akil's - /Bakura's/ - reaction had been, it wasn't likely to be the same when he snapped out of his strange mental state. She wanted to be far away as possible before he sought her out. She'd just get her things, and supplies, and take off along the Nile. She'd find the sea, buy passage on a merchant ship, and sail off to - where? She had very little knowledge of geography, but anywhere that Bakura wasn't would probably work.  
  
A hand reached out of the shadows and grabbed her. Leila bit back a scream, and sighed, half in relief, half in terror.  
  
"Oh - Shizu. I just - "  
  
"The spell," Shizu said, in a deadly quiet voice. "Did it work?"  
  
"Well, I cast it. And it didn't exactly hit the High Priest. But - "  
  
Shizu casually flung aside a fold of her robe and placed her hand on the hilt of a scimitar. "Who did it hit?"  
  
"A - a handmaiden, Lady Shizu." The situation seemed to call for titles. "Yellow-haired, like you. She looks a lot like you, actually."  
  
"Who did she see?"  
  
"I don't know. I left before - "  
  
Shizu shrugged. "Very well."  
  
Her motions were fluid and well-practiced. The scimitar came up and around in a flash of copper. Leila crumpled before she even knew she'd been killed.  
  
Shizu stared at the corpse for only a moment before stepping over it and going on her way. She had to clean the sword, of course. And then...  
  
Then she would find out which would be easier to murder, the handmaiden or the object of her affection.  
  
**Don't want your hand this time, I'll save myself  
  
Maybe I'll wake up for once  
  
Not tormented daily defeated by you  
  
Just when I thought I'd reached the bottom  
  
I'm dying again**  
  
Mokuba discovered the catacombs by himself.  
  
Seto had forbidden him from coming to the throne room. "We're in Egypt," he'd said. "The Shadow Games are being played. It's probably dangerous. Just don't leave this room."  
  
Well, Mokuba had no intention of staying in the room. It was boring, and he could feel some kind of power coursing through his veins, and he wanted to use it.  
  
First, though, he had to find out how.  
  
He plodded down a corridor, bare feet aching, and turned randomly right, then left, then left again. There were so many priests - why weren't there any around when he wanted one?  
  
He sighed and leaned against the wall, barely catching himself in time when it swung inwards.  
  
"Oh, a door," he said. "Typical. There's always at least one secret entrance."  
  
He peered into the gloom, and, almost unaware that he did it, plucked a torch from the wall and held it out. There were steps descending into blackness.  
  
~Probably, I should wait for Seto to have time to come with me,~ he thought. ~The last time I was in a place like this, Pegasus had me chained in the dungeons.~  
  
And then he remembered something. He hadn't had magic, then. He did now. Even though he wasn't quite sure how to use it.  
  
Couldn't hurt to take a look.  
  
And wouldn't it be nice to tell Seto that he'd found something, by himself?  
  
Assuming, of course, that there was something down there to find.  
  
* * *  
  
Ryou sat outside, knowing that the harsh Egyptian sun was probably burning his skin badly, and not caring.  
  
He'd gotten himself into this, after all. Bakura had warned him that the watch was evil, but he'd worn it, and now...now he didn't even know where his yami was.  
  
And the damn watch wouldn't come off.  
  
He glared at Sathaugula, which glinted brightly in the afternoon sun. "I hate you," he told it. "You turned me into a slave, and I don't want to be here. I have school tomorrow! I mean, in five thousand years! I mean...I don't even /know/ what I mean anymore."  
  
He heard the soft sound of footsteps behind him, and didn't turn. Already he'd been ordered around by three nobles. It was getting irritating. This was probably some servant, come to fetch him.  
  
"Now do you believe me?"  
  
Ryou snapped his head around and stared in disbelief at Bakura, who stood calmly behind him, practicing moves with a sword. It swished through the air.  
  
"You're here, and alive..."  
  
"And you, dear hikari, are sunburnt." Whoosh, went the sword, and Bakura neatly tossed it into his other hand. "The Egyptians invented fencing, you know. Other than that, we weren't really that bloodthirsty. We didn't have to be. Who would attack us here, in the middle of the desert? Suicide, that's what it is."  
  
Ryou scrambled to his feet. "I'm sorry - "  
  
"Save it." Bakura smiled bitterly. "Everyone seems to say that, lately. I actually /apologized/ for losing my memory. Then Leila begged my forgiveness for doing something right."  
  
"Who?"  
  
Bakura shrugged and abruptly stopped swinging the sword, planting it point- first in the dust and leaning on it. "Handmaiden. One of us." He frowned, looked around, and said quietly, "Ryou, I can't be seen. I'm not sure what I've done, but I seem to be wanted around here, and I'm staying in the catacombs. The entrance is in the corridor that leads to the kitchens from the outside. You can find it, I'm sure. Bring the pharaoh - but /disguise/ him. I have to talk to him."  
  
"Yami," Ryou said desperately. "I can't stay here. I'm a slave. I don't like it. Let me come to the catacombs."  
  
"Too dangerous. Tell Mai that I love her. The guards will be making their rounds in a moment. I'll see you later, won't I?"  
  
"Yes," Ryou said, and watched as his yami disappeared through a door, back into the palace.  
  
* * *  
  
Mai moaned and pressed a hand to her aching forehead. She couldn't see clearly - everyone around her seemed to be blurry blobs.  
  
"Mai," said the Yami-blob. "Can you hear me?"  
  
"Ugh," she said. "Yes, but I can't see." She rubbed at her eyes. There didn't seem to be anything /wrong/ with them - they didn't hurt or itch or anything like that. She just...couldn't see.  
  
"Get a healer," she heard Kaiba snap. She blinked and realized that the room was resolving itself into less-fuzzy shapes.  
  
"I think it's getting better," she ventured. She blinked several times in quick succession, shook her head, and looked up into Yugi's wide, worried eyes.  
  
And felt something in her heart twist.  
  
She knew what it was immediately, of course. She'd been in love before, but never like this. With Bakura and Joey, it had always been there, but not so insistent and pounding. This was longing, and wanting, and there wasn't any lust at all. It was love, plain and simple, and she knew it, wanted to hate it, but couldn't.  
  
"Yugi," she said, appalled at the seductive tone her voice seemed to have taken all by itself. "Could you just...back up?" ~Because I'm afraid I'll try to kiss you in a moment,~ she added to herself.  
  
What was going on?  
  
Yugi obediently backed away, the light of confusion in his eyes, and against her will, Mai started listing all kinds of adjectives for them, like adorable, and sweet, and perfect...  
  
She allowed Joey to help her up, staring at Yugi, unable to tear her eyes away.  
  
"Mai," Kaiba said, and she blinked hard. Maybe it was just these odd new feelings, but he actually sounded concerned. "Do you know what happened?"  
  
She shook her head.  
  
"Because," he continued, "I think someone cast a spell on you - I could feel it, for a moment. But if it's getting better..."  
  
Actually, it was getting worse. Even though something in the back of her head was screaming that she /did not/ love Yugi, the rest of her wanted to kiss him and hug him and...  
  
"Oh, God!" she cried. "Very dark mental place there!" She looked around wildly for something to bang her head on, so she could dispel the images. Her cheeks burned; normally she would /never/ think of things like that.  
  
Joey, Kaiba, and Yami were giving her very suspicious looks. "Sure you're all right?" Joey asked.  
  
She nodded. "Yes. Fine." Really, though, she just wasn't comfortable telling any of them about this.  
  
~Bakura,~ she thought. ~He'll know what's going on, if I can find him...~  
  
And if this love thing got bad enough that she wouldn't feel the need to do something violent to him for /daring/ to cheat on her...  
  
**I'm going under  
  
Drowning in you  
  
I'm falling forever  
  
I've got to break through  
  
I'm going under**  
  
It took Mai several minutes to convince the others that she was all right, and then she fled, casting a backward glance at Yugi.  
  
Kaiba immediately turned to Yami. "I know what's wrong with her," he announced.  
  
"Why didn't you tell /her/?" Yami asked.  
  
He snorted. "There's no possible way she could not know. Didn't you feel it? She got hit with a love spell."  
  
Joey regarded the High Priest with deep suspicion. "And how do /you/ know? You've only had magic for a few hours."  
  
Kaiba gave Joey a withering look. "You didn't notice the looks she was giving Yugi?"  
  
"Me?" Yugi gasped.  
  
"Yes, you. It's my theory that someone cast a love spell on her, and the first person she saw was Yugi. I need to talk to someone who knows about this magic thing, but I'm fairly certain." He tapped his foot. "Honestly, I'm the High Priest, I thought all the others are supposed to come running..."  
  
Joey groaned. "So now she's in love with /two people/ who aren't me? There's no justice in the world!"  
  
A white-robed healer-mage dashed in at that point and flung himself prostrate before the dais. "You called?" he gasped.  
  
"What do you know of love spells?" Kaiba demanded, completely ignoring the others - shell-shocked Yugi, worried Yami, despairing Joey.  
  
The healer got to his knees, averting his eyes from the pharaoh. "They are difficult to cast, my lord. However, from the moment they take grasp, they cannot be broken, except by death."  
  
"Everything can be countered," Kaiba snapped. "Everything! You just haven't figured it out yet!"  
  
Scrambling to his feet, the healer shook his head. "I am sorry, my lord, but there is no possible way to reverse it. Love spells are designed that way. Pharaoh Khemsyt III himself decided that. Under law, no one can search for any counter-spell."  
  
Kaiba stared. It was the first time anyone in the room had seen him even remotely at a loss. "But - why?"  
  
The healer bowed hurriedly. "Pharaoh Khemsyt III fancied himself a ruthless overlord. Perhaps my lord does not remember? He decreed that love spells must be forever binding, and unbreakable by any means." The healer coughed. "I believe his actual words were, 'And if I find it shatters by that pesky old Power of True Love thing, I will cut off thy heads.'"  
  
Yami recovered somewhat. "Well, I'm the pharaoh now, and I say that an antidote must be found. Immediately. Or...or I'll have you drawn and quartered." He looked pleased at having delivered such gruesome judgment.  
  
The healer bowed deeply. "Yes, O Never-Dying One. Immediately." He raced off.  
  
Kaiba sighed and turned to Yami. "In the meantime, someone has to talk to Mai. Tell her to keep away from Yugi. This is just what we don't need - I mean, if what you said is true really is."  
  
Yami nodded. "I'm sure of it. Joey, would you?"  
  
"Augh," Joey said weakly.  
  
"Oh, right." Yami suddenly smiled. "You know, we could /try/ finding Bakura. That 'pesky old Power of True Love thing' might work."  
  
It was then that Ryou entered, badly sunburnt but grinning. He ran up onto the dais, drawing gasps from the handmaidens, who had never seen such scandalous behavior in all their lives.  
  
"I found Bakura," he said. "I know where he is, too. He said he has to talk to you, Yami."  
  
The pharaoh stood. "Good. Joey, you ought to come, just in case it's a trap."  
  
"What about Mai?" Yugi finally managed.  
  
"Just stay away from her," Yami said. "It will all work out."  
  
Ryou blinked. "What will work out?"  
  
Yami sighed. "Well, there's quite a bit we need to tell you..."  
  
**Blurring and stirring the truth and the lies  
  
So I don't know what's real and what's not  
  
Always confusing the thoughts in my head  
  
So I can't trust myself anymore  
  
I'm dying again**  
  
There was one more important piece of information about love spells that the healer forgot to mention, and which Mai was already beginning to discover.  
  
The longer Mai spent hiding from Yugi, the more she wanted him.  
  
She wasn't sure where she was, just that it was far away from the throne room. She hadn't seen another living soul, which was good, because a blush seemed to have set up permanent residence on her cheeks.  
  
She turned a corner and ran into Bakura.  
  
"Ouch," he said faintly, stumbling backwards. Mai looked up, saw him rubbing his nose ruefully, and got a horrible shock.  
  
Nothing. She felt...nothing.  
  
No love, no hate. The love spell shut out all other emotions. There was only the ever-present desire for Yugi, nothing else.  
  
"Mai," Bakura said. "You're here."  
  
"Oh," she said. It was all she could think of to say.  
  
He looked around, then grabbed her arm and dragged her into what seemed to be a closet. He pulled the door shut and stared at her. She looked around, desperate to see anything but him.  
  
It was a small closet, apparently for random storage. Several objects adorned the shelves, mainly clay jars. The only light came from a window that was little more than a slit in the wall, letting in the soft light of the sinking sun.  
  
"Mai..." Bakura whispered, and reached out to brush a strand of hair back from her face.  
  
"Mm," she said, and pulled away.  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
Mai bit her lip, then said, very quickly, "I-think-I'm-in-love-with-Yugi."  
  
She knew he understood her; he always did. He didn't react though, just stared for a moment, then whispered, "You were with Kaiba a moment ago, weren't you."  
  
She nodded.  
  
"Damn. I'm going to kill her." He clenched his fist and kicked a jar on one of the lower shelves. It shattered. "Mai, dear, you're under a love spell. It's not real."  
  
"Mrr," she whimpered. "I want to love you. I know I should. But - "  
  
"Don't say it." Bakura leaned against the wall, his dark eyes holding hers captive. "Breakable by death."  
  
"Death?"  
  
"Yes, so they tell me. But what about - I mean, maybe strong enough love for someone else?"  
  
"You're taking this very calmly," she said, a bit upset.  
  
"Yes, well, I'm trying very hard not to rush out of here and strangle the young woman responsible for this." He sighed. "Anyway. You feel nothing for me?"  
  
She shook her head, and almost immediately he lunged forward, grabbed her face, and kissed her.  
  
His lips burned hers, she felt like her skin was bruising, lifted her hands to grip his wrists. It was so - different. She could feel all the passion and anger, and frustration, and fear - all the emotions he had ever felt, it seemed. She knew that her nails were digging into his arms, and that on any normal day this probably would have led to something that /really/ would have frightened Ryou.  
  
And somewhere deep in her mind, a little voice screamed that she should want this...  
  
But she couldn't.  
  
After a moment, he pulled away, a fierce light that might have been anger shining in his eyes. "Nothing?"  
  
Mai still clung to his wrists. "No. Sorry, so sorry, but you have that other girl...don't you?"  
  
"Shizu? How do you...oh. Throne room." He sighed. "I loved her, once. I love you now, though." Now it was his turn to look everywhere but at her.  
  
She might have suspected something, but became a bit preoccupied by the watch that seemed to be on his wrist. She could feel it, the edge was pressing on her hand, but she didn't see anything.  
  
"Are you wearing a watch?"  
  
He glanced down. "No. Why?"  
  
She shrugged and let go, hands falling to her sides. "Well, what am I supposed to do about Yugi?"  
  
Bakura ran a pale hand through his even paler hair, and stared resolutely at the broken jar. "I don't know. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a certain handmaiden to scream at and possibly kill." He pushed the door open and stalked off, leaving Mai to lick her lips and wish that she could have kissed back, or that he was Yugi.  
  
**I'm going under  
  
Drowning in you  
  
I'm falling forever  
  
I've got to break through  
  
So go on and scream  
  
Scream at me, I'm so far away  
  
I won't be broken again  
  
I've got to breathe, I can't keep going under**  
  
Mokuba held the torch in front of him like a weapon as he made his way through the corridors. The catacombs were a silent place, devoid of life - all life.  
  
It was not, however, devoid of death.  
  
He found the body not very far from the stairs, and almost dropped his torch in shock. It was a girl, lying in a crumpled heap, small and fragile, her dark hair covering her face. A dark pool of blood spread out from her neck, where the morbidly curious Mokuba located a deep cut that had severed her windpipe.  
  
Well, he had definitely found something, but it was not something he wanted to find.  
  
He fled back in the direction of the stairs, but soon discovered that he was lost - lost in a place where there was obviously a murderer on the loose.  
  
Mokuba ducked into a room when he heard footsteps, waited until they passed. So, human beings did walk around down here. /Living/ human beings.  
  
That was a relief.  
  
As soon as he was certain the hallway was clear, he stepped back into it and looked around. Where was he, again? Usually he had such a good sense of direction...  
  
Voices, coming toward him. He ran back into the room and pressed against the wall, trembling.  
  
"I'm telling you, there's something seriously wrong with him..."  
  
"Hn. Maybe you should've hit /him/ with the spell."  
  
"Oh, please. He adores me. Of course, he doesn't know...but how could he? We've been so careful..."  
  
"He'll start to suspect something if you don't get rid of the body."  
  
"Yeah, I'll get someone to throw her in the Nile." The voice - female, definitely female - laughed. "How ironic is that?"  
  
"Oh - don't forget the Ishtar boy."  
  
"We won't be getting any problems from him..."  
  
The voices faded. Mokuba slipped into the corridor and began walking rapidly in the opposite direction. So, those two, whoever they were, knew about the corpse he had found - or possibly another one.  
  
One thing was seriously bothering him, though.  
  
Ishtar. That was Isis' last name. And thus her brother's last name, as well.  
  
Was it even possible that they were talking about Malik Ishtar? Because if they were, Yami would definitely want to know...  
  
So lost was he in his thoughts that he did not notice that he was being followed until his pursuer grabbed his arm and yanked him into a small niche in the wall. The torch dropped from his hand and flared briefly before going out, plunging them into darkness.  
  
**I'm dying again  
  
I'm going under  
  
Drowning in you  
  
I'm falling forever  
  
I've got to break through  
  
I'm going under  
  
Going under  
  
Going under**  
  
~~  
  
A/N: Sigh. Head hurts. Too much homework. Don't /want/ to write a paper. Mrr.  
  
Comments for my reviewers so far:  
  
The laughing: Hee, thank you. And yes, Mai/Bakura all the way, forever. I know it doesn't look that way, but trust me.  
  
Night Beauty: Glad you like it! Really? Your name's Leila? Wild. Actually, I didn't have my list of Egyptian names at the time, and Leila is the most Egyptian-sounding name I know. ;)  
  
Mori: I think Evanescence might be my favorite band, too. Or else 10,000 Maniacs. Not sure.  
  
Rei Mayonaka: I am going to email you again in a moment, when I've put this up. Although by the time you get here, that comment will be irrelevant. Heh. Anyway, how did you find out?! (suspicious look) You didn't /read the summary/, did you? Because that's completely unheard of. :)  
  
LiLianJieGurl: Yay Kaiba! He's so adorable, isn't he? Oh, and I'm not sure /how/ I write this way. It just happens and everyone seems to like it. Flattering, it is.  
  
To everyone: Thanks for all the pretty reviews! I like reviews. I've never actually /done/ a thank-you section like this before, but apparently lots of other people do it. So. Thanks. Cough.  
  
Notes on the Chapter: So. Stuff happened. Not much more to say, really.  
  
Next Chapter: Leap Before You Look. Not an Evanescence song, because none of them seem to fit the next chapter. Not a song at all, it's actually a poem. Anyway. Will Mai succeed in avoiding Yugi? Who captured Mokuba? Will Bakura ever remember Sathaugula? And how on Earth am I going to resolve the love spell?! Actually, the answer to that last question is coming up in about...two, maybe three more chapters.  
  
Please, someone. Force me to work on my original story. My writing schedule is all messed up. Wah. Oh! Better idea! Force me to do my homework! 


	5. Leap Before You Look

Chapter Four: Leap Before You Look  
  
Mokuba very nearly bit the person holding him; after all, a hand was covering his mouth, and it would have been sinfully easy. But overall, he was not a violent boy, and settled for kicking backwards.  
  
"I'm trying to save your life, you idiot," a somehow familiar voice hissed, and the owner of said voice pulled him further into the shadows.  
  
Indeed, there were sudden running footsteps nearby, then ominous silence. Mokuba's captor let go, and a moment later, light flared from a newly lit torch.  
  
"Oh," Mokuba said softly. "Malik."  
  
It was certainly the psychotic Egyptian spirit-to-be, complete with golden earrings and those blue-lavender eyes. Except he didn't seem too terribly psychotic, and his soft blonde hair was not trying to defy gravity.  
  
"Yeah," Malik Ishtar said. "How did you - oh, you're a sorcerer, aren't you. A Seer, probably."  
  
"Did you really just save my life?" Mokuba asked suspiciously.  
  
"Probably." The Egyptian shrugged. "If they'd caught you, they would have killed you. They kill all intruders. Even the ones who haven't seen anything. Say, you /haven't/ seen anything, have you?"  
  
Mokuba remembered the bleeding corpse, and said, quite firmly, "Not one single thing."  
  
Claws scraped on stone, and a small cat wandered aimlessly past, then turned and peered at them.  
  
"Rana," Malik said. "I have to talk to Akil. Get him, please?"  
  
Rana stared at him with cold green eyes.  
  
"Oh, come on," the Egyptian said desperately. "I know you know what I'm saying. I helped train you. Go. Get. Akil. Now!"  
  
The cat purred and sauntered off in a way that screamed, "I'm going of my own free will, and probably I /won't/ be getting anyone. Ha."  
  
Malik turned back to the small boy, and frowned. "What are you doing down here, anyway?"  
  
"It was an accident," Mokuba said. "Who's Akil?"  
  
Before Malik could find a suitable answer, Bakura walked up to them, Rana in his arms, and stopped dead.  
  
"Him," Malik said helpfully.  
  
* * *  
  
Bakura tried to put aside the shock of seeing Mokuba Kaiba and Malik Ishtar in a place where neither should logically be, and focused on something far more pressing.  
  
He remembered this.  
  
The visions crowded his mind, pushing for attention, and as he stared at Malik, words swirled around, barely staying long enough to be considered thought.  
  
-Best friend. Commoner. Murderer.-  
  
And that was just memories from the past-present; the present-future tried to invade. -Lunatic. Enemy. Evil.-  
  
"Akil," Malik said. "This kid was wandering around. We have to get him out of here. I think - "  
  
"Oh," Bakura said. "Didn't you hear? I go by Bakura now."  
  
"What?" Malik took a step back. "I have no idea what you're talking about."  
  
"Neither do I." Bakura absently stroked Atenna's head. "I have to find Leila. I have to...well, 'kill' would probably be the mildest word I would use."  
  
"What, Leila? That little handmaiden? What could she possibly have done?" Malik shook his head. "Akil - Bakura, I mean - gods, that name is weird - I think that Shizu might be setting us up for betrayal." He flinched, as if expecting some kind of harsh punishment.  
  
Bakura wasn't really listening. "Hmm? Oh, yes, sounds just like her."  
  
"I saw," Mokuba started to say, then decided that he really didn't want to be saying anything until Malik was gone.  
  
"But you - you love her, don't you?"  
  
"I don't...know. Maybe. Maybe not. Doesn't matter. The point is, whatever we're doing, it's wrong. We have to stop."  
  
"But, 'Kura," Malik said, the use of the nickname coming surprisingly easily, "we can't /stop/. Do you have any idea - we'd be thrown in the Nile for sure! Which isn't that bad, not for me, but you can't swim."  
  
"Yeah," Bakura said ruefully. "I know. Somehow, though, I suspect it might be in our best interest to stop."  
  
"We can't," Malik repeated. "But I have a plan."  
  
"I'm not going to like it, am I?"  
  
"Probably not. Definitely not. It's a good plan, though. Really cunning."  
  
Bakura stared at his - well, he wasn't sure anymore - his /confusing entity/, that best summed it up - and wondered exactly why he felt this overwhelming...this...  
  
This /trust/.  
  
"We're both going to end up dead," he said, resigned.  
  
"Very probably."  
  
"And you're not even going to tell me the plan?"  
  
"Need-to-know basis. And you really don't need to know."  
  
Leap before you look, thought Bakura. This is a complete maniac. He hurt Ryou. He almost got Ryou killed. He almost got Mai killed. And he almost succeeded in banishing me to the Shadow Realm forever. He's going to be able to control the Winged Dragon of Ra. This man is a dangerous, psychotic freak.  
  
But he does have a certain talent for cunning plans.  
  
"All right. I'll take Mokuba upstairs. You just...get on with the plan."  
  
Malik smiled brightly. "I knew you'd see it my way." He stared at the sword strapped to Bakura's waist. "Oh, that's what was bothering me. Are you sure you can use that?"  
  
"Well, why shouldn't I?"  
  
Malik's gaze swept upwards to meet Bakura's. "Oh, the memory thing. Khepri told me. You're allergic to metal. Copper in particular. That's why - oh, forget it. If you /want/ to end up a sneezing, itching, vicious little person by tomorrow, be my guest. Just - this time, don't have me thrown in the dungeon. I was only trying to help."  
  
**The sense of danger must not disappear:  
  
The way is certainly both short and steep,  
  
However gradual it looks from here --  
  
Look if you like, but you will have to leap**  
  
Mokuba and Bakura got as far as out-of-Malik's-hearing before Mokuba half- shrieked, "That was Malik Ishtar!"  
  
"Yes," Bakura said absently. "I know."  
  
"He's crazy! And evil!"  
  
"Not yet."  
  
"Well, he's going to be!"  
  
Bakura's eyes were long gone, however, staring at some vision that Mokuba couldn't see. The tomb robber rubbed absently at his wrist. "I know," he repeated. "I just don't know why."  
  
Mokuba opened his mouth to say something else, and was stopped by Rana leaping at his face. He caught the cat, expecting her to try to claw at him - he'd heard stories about Atenna, after all - but instead she just hissed and stared icily at Bakura's wrist.  
  
Eventually, Bakura blinked and glanced at his companion. "I'm not going to let it happen."  
  
"Let /what/ happen?"  
  
"Whatever it was that drove Malik insane. I'm going to stop it."  
  
"You can't - you - that's changing /history/! I might not be born! I - you - Malik - your stupid cat is biting me!"  
  
"She likes you." Bakura detached Rana from Mokuba's finger. "You'll be born, never fear."  
  
"But what about /our/ Malik? And Isis? Maybe they - "  
  
"I don't care!" Bakura cried, dark eyes snapping. "He's a good person! I remember it! He doesn't deserve what the future holds for him! I'm just - not going to let it happen!"  
  
"What if you can't stop it?"  
  
Involuntarily, Bakura glanced down at his wrist, then shook his head. "I know that I can. I have this weird feeling that I can do anything."  
  
"Oh, really?" Mokuba cast about for a test that Bakura couldn't possibly pass - really, changing history was just going too far - and lit on something that only a priest could know. "Tell me what kind of magic I have!"  
  
Bakura set Rana down and drew his sword. "That's easy."  
  
Before Mokuba could even figure out what was happening, the tomb robber grabbed his hand and sliced his palm open.  
  
"Ow!" Mokuba bit his lip hard and jerked away, staring at the blood seeping from the cut. "Why - "  
  
He stopped talking.  
  
Blue-white sparks the color of lightning danced around the wound. There was a slight tingling sensation, and the pain vanished.  
  
"I - "  
  
"So, you're a healer-mage," Bakura said thoughtfully. "In complete contrast to your brother's shadow powers. Fascinating."  
  
Mokuba wiped the blood off on the wall and stared at his unmarked skin.  
  
"Fairly powerful, too."  
  
"But - "  
  
The ex-spirit started walking again, quite rapidly, and Mokuba had to run to keep up.  
  
"Bakura, wait, I - "  
  
"You'd better learn to control it," Bakura said abruptly. "I think - I'm not sure, mind, but I think that one of us is going to be hurt, probably very badly. And I think...that if you know how to use that power...you might get there in time to help."  
  
"Get hurt? But - oh, what if someone /dies/?"  
  
"Yes, that's possible too. Damn vague dreams."  
  
"What if Seto dies?"  
  
"Well, obviously, you needn't worry about him until he's played the Shadow Games. We know that /that/ happened. There's that big rock thing Isis is so fond of."  
  
"What if - "  
  
"Look," Bakura snapped. "Just get Ryou's watch working and get out of here, then. That way, no one has to get hurt."  
  
"If you're planning to - "  
  
"I'm not cunning plan guy," Bakura said firmly. "That's Malik's territory. I'm guy-without-decent-memories. Take two rights and a left, and you'll be at the stairs. I have to talk to someone."  
  
Rana hissed and scratched her way out of his arms.  
  
* * *  
  
Joey was - there was no other word for it - moping.  
  
He, Ryou, and Yami had been walking the corridors for nearly an hour, trying to find the kitchens. It didn't help that every slave they passed screamed and ran from their pharaoh. After all, being so close to a god was dangerous business.  
  
"Joey," Ryou finally said. "You're going to hurt yourself if you keep slouching like that. It's bad for your spine."  
  
"Muh," Joey said despondently.  
  
Yami turned another corridor. "It will be night soon. Perhaps we should wait until tomorrow?"  
  
While Ryou and Yami argued about this, Joey slipped further into despair. Mai, who he loved despite having a perfectly good girlfriend, was in love with his best friend. Oh, and an evil psycho spirit-who-wasn't-a-spirit- anymore-probably.  
  
It just wasn't fair.  
  
He'd always assumed that if she wanted anyone other than Bakura, it would be him. After all, she knew that he loved her. And she'd liked him once.  
  
Well, maybe it wasn't too late. Bakura would be busy doing whatever it was he had done in Egypt, but Joey really wasn't busy. He could always try comforting her.  
  
Flowers might not be a bad idea.  
  
Oh! And chocolate.  
  
On second thought, they didn't have chocolate in ancient Egypt, did they? Scratch that.  
  
"I," Yami said in his most imperious I-am-a-god-or-at-least-/they/-all- think-so voice, "am going to bed. Because I am tired."  
  
"But Yami needs to talk to you!"  
  
"He can wait."  
  
"But maybe he can't!"  
  
Joey barely caught a flash of someone short and dark-haired before that someone was hugging him desperately. "Oh," Mokuba cried. "I'm so happy to see you all!" He flew over to Yami and tugged on his arm. "There's /dead people/ in the catacombs."  
  
"Yes," Yami said, slightly amused. "That would be why they're called catacombs."  
  
"I mean real dead people who were murdered! Recently! And Malik Ishtar - and a cat - and - I am /never/ going down there again!"  
  
It took a little while for Yami and Joey to calm him down, by which time he was able to relate what he remembered of his journey into the catacombs.  
  
"Malik," Yami whispered. "And the tomb robber? Working together? But they /hate/ each other."  
  
"Not anymore." Mokuba shuddered. "There are very scary people down there. Plotting something. I don't know what. But I think we're all in terrible danger."  
  
It was at this point that Joey noticed something.  
  
"Where did Ryou go?"  
  
**Tough-minded men get mushy in their sleep  
  
And break the by-laws any fool can keep;  
  
It is not the convention but the fear  
  
That has a tendency to disappear**  
  
Ryou had, in fact, hurried off upon hearing Mokuba mention that Malik Ishtar and Bakura were working together. Whatever state his yami was in right now, Ryou knew that Malik was nothing but evil, and trusting him was out of the question.  
  
And if the others were just going to bicker and yell and refuse to help, he'd have to find the catacombs by himself and force his yami back to his senses.  
  
This plan, of course, was destined to remain unacted upon, because just when Ryou began to smell food and hope that he was near the kitchens, something leapt on him from behind.  
  
He cried out and collapsed, being quite unequipped to fight back. The whatever-it-was had long claws that dug into his skin, and he managed to gasp out, "Please, I haven't done anything wrong - "  
  
"You used it!"  
  
Oh. Well, that explained a lot.  
  
Ryou attempted to roll over and managed to dislodge the demon. He got to his knees and stared at it, crouched in the middle of the hallways.  
  
"Did you /follow/ me?"  
  
The demon looked rather harassed. "Yes, I did. Five thousand years, eh? I didn't know you had it in you. Stupid mortal child."  
  
"Hardly a child," Ryou pointed out. "I'm nearly seventeen."  
  
The demon smiled, revealing sharp fangs right out of any vampire movie ever made. "I doubt you'll live that long."  
  
Ryou shook his head. "I'm sorry, I thought I just heard you say that I'm going to die."  
  
"It's inevitable."  
  
"Oh, really? How do you know?"  
  
"You used it."  
  
Ryou moaned and shakily got to his feet. "Well, now we're right back where we started. Look, Yami's in trouble, I've got to help him out before Malik hurts him, and - "  
  
"You're in far more trouble than your other half."  
  
The boy glanced around quickly, then grinned. "I don't see anyone hovering in the shadows waiting to kill me."  
  
The demon snarled. "You really /are/ an idiot, aren't you? You used Sathaugula."  
  
"Just once."  
  
"Once is enough!" It was beginning to look like the demon would explode out of sheer frustration. "The deal was for three times! And it was used three times, and then lost! Then you found it, and you used it! Now the bargain clearly states that you're going to die!"  
  
"I only used it once!"  
  
"It doesn't matter who uses it, just that it /was/ used!" The demon flexed its long fingers, as if itching to wrap them around Ryou's neck. "It's stuck, isn't it? And it will draw the life slowly from you. You will die in agony unless it is removed - and it cannot be. Not unless you want to chop off your hand."  
  
Ryou wrapped his right hand protectively around his left wrist, feeling the cold metal of the watch under his fingers. "You're lying. I feel fine."  
  
"It may feel that way, for a day or two. Then you will find yourself growing weak. You will realize that it is getting harder and harder to sleep at night. You will be plagued by visions. Your ability to heal will desert you. You will bruise easily, feel the pain magnified. Gradually, you will slip into a coma and die." The demon seemed to take a fierce pleasure from these simple, haunting sentences.  
  
Ryou stared down at the gold glinting between his fingers, then thrust his arm out at the demon. "Take it, then! I don't want it! I never did!"  
  
"I cannot remove it. No one can. That is the price you pay for breaking the deal."  
  
"I didn't /make/ that deal! I don't even know who did!"  
  
The demon's yellow eyes glittered maliciously. "You don't, do you."  
  
Ryou mutely shook his head.  
  
The demon smiled. "Well, you could probably guess, if you took the time."  
  
It only took a moment before Ryou's warm, dark eyes widened. "/Yami/?" he whispered.  
  
"Yes. Your other half." The demon grinned and raised its hand. "And as you die, remember: it was he who murdered you."  
  
And with that parting shot, the demon snapped its fingers and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.  
  
**Much can be said for social savoir-faire,  
  
But to rejoice when no one else is there  
  
Is even harder than it is to weep;  
  
No one is watching, but you have to leap**  
  
The first night in a new place is generally the hardest.  
  
Yami got little sleep. His bed, though probably the softest in the entire kingdom, wasn't at all comfortable compared to the feather bed he had in the future. It didn't help that priests tiptoed in repeatedly to make sure the candles stayed lit.  
  
Kaiba also remained awake, staring at the ceiling. The Shadow Games weighed heavily on the High Priest's mind. Yami had informed him that they would have to play against each other at least once, to inspire that rock carving Isis would use to show them the past. Kaiba hadn't particularly enjoyed the Shadow Games during Battle City, and knew that it was probably even more dangerous now, when the monsters were real, not holographic projections.  
  
Mokuba slept, and dreamed of the dead girl, and woke in the morning wide- eyed and fighting not to scream.  
  
Mai slept, and dreamed of Yugi, and woke trembling with desire and self- loathing.  
  
Yugi and Ryou got no sleep at all. The nobles had them up all night running various errands. They ran into each other twice, delivering fleeting smiles before continuing on their ways.  
  
Joey intended to simply fall asleep, but received the news that he was supposed to stand guard outside the pharaoh's room all night. "Graveyard shift," he muttered, but took up his weary post.  
  
Bakura fell into a deep sleep, the first he'd had in a long while, and woke refreshed and, overall, the happiest of the eight.  
  
**A solitude ten thousand fathoms deep  
  
Sustains the bed on which we lie, my dear;  
  
Although I love you, you too will have to leap;  
  
Our dream of safety has to disappear**  
  
~~  
  
A/N: "Leap Before You Look" is a poem by W.H. Auden. I did not use all of the verses, because I didn't like some of them.  
  
Why is Bakura allergic to metal? Because Yami is allergic to cats. Can't give /one/ of them an allergy and not the other. Humanizes them, too. I actually have a friend who's allergic to metal.  
  
Khepri is a random name and a random person. It means "morning sun." I'm fairly certain it's a girl's name. Yep, it is.  
  
Notes to my reviewers will come every other chapter. So. Not now.  
  
Oh, and I did my homework! Well, some of it, anyway. Still have to write a two-page paper on Roman gladiators, and revise my essay, but that can wait. Four-day weekend. Joy.  
  
Next Chapter: Hello. At least two kisses (and not who you'd expect, either!), Bakura gets his memory back (all of it, this time) and Ryou attempts to rid himself of Sathaugula. 


	6. Hello

A/N: I feel it is my duty to say this now, before you become too embroiled in the plot to step away. "Let Go" was a fluffy romance. "Fallen" is classified as drama. Perhaps it ought to be under angst. Let me make this perfectly clear. People are going to die. There will be blood. There will be cold-blooded murder. There will be cliffhangers. This is not a happy tale. Things will not even turn out precisely the way you expect them to. In this chapter, the love triangle (Bakura/Mai/Yugi) becomes more of a love pentagram. And then in a couple of chapters, the love pentagram subsides into the more conventional rectangle. Though octagons are not out of the question in the future. Sorry, I'm rambling. That said, you are responsible for what you want to read, and flames will not be tolerated.  
  
Don't panic /yet/. The /real/ bad stuff doesn't come until halfway through chapter six. And it's not R-rated by any means.  
  
That said, here's chapter five.  
  
Chapter Five: Hello  
  
Bakura was shocked to wake up in the morning and find that he actually felt rested.  
  
One would expect that his nightmares would only have gotten worse, now that his memories were back in their entirety. After all, he /had/ killed Kaiba's father, and there was that messy business with the tomb robbing.  
  
Not to mention that it wasn't exactly nice to find out that Yami was his brother. Twin brother, no less.  
  
"I am not going to think about that," he said out loud.  
  
"Think about what?" Shizu asked sleepily.  
  
He swore in Japanese and nearly fell off of the pallet - a drop of two inches, admittedly, but still far enough to consider it a fall, and this was silly, why was he thinking stupid things when there were more important issues at stake?  
  
"You're in my bed," he said numbly.  
  
She laughed. "Yes, dear. We always sleep together."  
  
Luckily, his memory quickly reassured him that she did not mean it in the sense he /thought/ she meant it, and that in fact they had never made it very much past kissing. He relaxed.  
  
"Right. Good. Oh, my memory's back."  
  
"Excellent." Shizu yawned. "Because we've got work to do. We have to find out who that handmaiden is that Leila cast the spell on, and who she fell in love with, and then - "  
  
"Oh, Leila?" Bakura interrupted. "I haven't seen her."  
  
"She, um, visiting family, won't be back for a few weeks, maybe never, sick grandmother or something, love you!"  
  
Before she could kiss him, Bakura quickly scooted away, a motion which caused him to crash the two inches to the stone floor. "Ow," he said. "Er. I just - idea! You could, um. Well, someone's sure to have noticed the love spell. You could interview people who were there."  
  
"I could," she said thoughtfully. "Glad to see your plans are back to their former level of brilliance."  
  
He blinked. "Was I really /that/ bad at plans? No wonder we had to bring Malik into this..."  
  
She yawned again. "Akil, the plan - "  
  
No. Whatever plans she had, they were /bad/. He remembered that.  
  
"Bakura," he said quickly. "That's what I want to be called." And before she could work that out, he fled.  
  
* * *  
  
Mai had absolutely no intention of going anywhere near the throne room ever again. This was because she had discovered, to her chagrin, that Yami's resemblance to Yugi set off very /bad/ thoughts.  
  
Very, very bad.  
  
Instead, she found her way to the kitchens and begged the head cook to let her work there. The cook eyed her skimpy outfit and wordlessly handed her an apron, mumbling something about decency.  
  
Mai wasn't an exceptional cook - in fact, her specialty was grilled cheese - but even she knew how to chop vegetables. She was busily doing this when she suddenly realized that she really didn't want to be alone.  
  
Giving a hasty apology to the cook, she returned the apron and went off, looking for Kaiba. She did hate him, but he /was/ trying to find some kind of cure for the love spell, so she felt able to tolerate him.  
  
Instead, she almost crashed into Yugi.  
  
"Augh," she heard him say. "Mai."  
  
There was a ringing in her ears. She wasn't at all sure that she liked it.  
  
Yugi squeaked in consternation. "I've got to go - "  
  
"Stay," she said dreamily. She looked down at him. The rational part of her mind said that he was too short, too pure, she wouldn't like him at all...  
  
Except that she did.  
  
She backed him up against a wall, ignoring another squeak, and pressed her palms against the stone on either side of his head. "Didn't they warn you to stay away?"  
  
"I have a job to do - Mai - eeeee..."  
  
She wasn't sure why she'd bent to kiss his forehead, but it could have been worse. "I'm sorry about all this."  
  
"Not your fault - urk..."  
  
Her hand had somehow slid down his chest, which, do to his status as a slave, was bare.  
  
"You're very innocent, you know..."  
  
"Not for much longer!" he yelped. "Not if you don't stop - it - ohhh..."  
  
Well, she was apparently doing very interesting things to his ear with her tongue. And not of her own free will. This was thoroughly appalling.  
  
He had been carrying an empty tray. It clattered to the floor as he hesitantly raised his hands to her face.  
  
"Mai - don't - Bakura - Joey - "  
  
"Yugi..."  
  
"They're going to kill us," he said. He sounded resigned. She took that as a good sign and moved to claim his lips.  
  
Predictably, he forgot to breathe, so she had to pull away seconds later to wait while he coughed pathetically.  
  
"We can't."  
  
"We have to," she murmured, and kissed him again.  
  
**Playground school bell rings again  
  
Rain clouds come to play again  
  
Has no one told you she's not breathing?  
  
Hello, I'm your mind  
  
Giving you someone to talk to  
  
Hello**  
  
Kaiba glared at the wall, because the other priests had already run away in terror, and there wasn't anything else to glare at.  
  
For the first time in ages, he had absolutely no idea what to do.  
  
He'd asked the priests to work on the love spell cure, and they'd all laughed and informed him that it couldn't be done. The spell was designed to be unbreakable. Finding a counter-spell could take months, even years. Certainly one of the two affected would die before the cure was discovered. If there even /was/ one.  
  
It was like a nightmare. Kaiba knew that he /should/ find the cure. It was the right thing to do. He generally frowned on doing the right thing, but he'd always rather liked Mai, and he really hated to see anyone suffer like this. And the eight of them were in this together, right? And they would never get back to their own time unless Mai and Yugi were both able to be in the same room together without panicking.  
  
All these thoughts of togetherness and cooperation were really out of character.  
  
Time-travel did strange things to the mind.  
  
Kaiba eventually organized his thoughts and worked out that he couldn't care less if Yugi and Friends remained here forever. But Mokuba didn't seem happy. He hadn't slept well - Kaiba could tell. He wasn't about to risk his brother's health in this time when people died so young. If it took cooperation to get back to the future, well...  
  
Maybe the first step was finding a cure.  
  
Only he bloody well couldn't do /that/, not right now, not with all these /idiots/ insisting that it was impossible.  
  
Everything is defined by its opposing force. For profit in one thing, payment in some other. There is no such thing as a one-sided coin.  
  
That was simple logic.  
  
Kaiba tried, very hard, to avoid the nagging voice in the back of his mind that said smugly, "But what does /logic/ have to do with /magic/?"  
  
"Kaiba?"  
  
The High Priest whirled. "You shouldn't sneak up on people like that."  
  
Yami shrugged. "Didn't think it mattered. I was just wondering if - "  
  
"No counter-spell yet."  
  
"Oh." Yami stared at the floor determinedly. "Well. I'm bored."  
  
"Such mundane words for the almighty pharaoh."  
  
Yami mutinously ignored Kaiba's sneering tone and continued, "And I figured you might be bored too, so I thought, we could play a game."  
  
"The Shadow Games?"  
  
"No! Not yet. Too dangerous. It's just...I found a chess set."  
  
Kaiba blinked. "I didn't know they had chess five thousand years ago."  
  
"Don't think they did. I had some slaves make one out of wood."  
  
Well, here was Kaiba's chance to beat Yami. The CEO was extremely good at chess.  
  
"Sure, let's play. We can find out if the title 'King of Games' extends beyond Duel Monsters."  
  
* * *  
  
Malik's first mistake - and some would say his worst - was trusting Bakura as much as he did.  
  
They'd been friends since they were six or seven, completely ignoring the protocol. Bakura wasn't a god, anyway - just the brother of one. A fallen angel, the people called him.  
  
Have faith. Bakura said those words so often, when they were in trouble. I can get us out of this.  
  
Malik always believed him.  
  
Contrary to historical belief, chess originated in Egypt. The game was not /called/ chess, and in the wake of the Shadow Games, it was lost, only to be rediscovered in India and Persia centuries later.  
  
Malik and Bakura were masters of the game, and applied it often to their own escapades.  
  
"We," Malik said once, "are like the priests." (The Egyptians did not have bishops.) "We move diagonally and end up in the places where the kings weren't expecting us to be."  
  
Bakura had shaken his head and gently touched one of the pieces. "No, you can be a priest. I'm a slave." (Something like a pawn.)  
  
"Why would you want to be a slave?"  
  
"If they can slip all the way to the other side, they become the most powerful players in the game."  
  
Malik was startled by this, but just then he saw a brilliant move and played it. Bakura thought that his best friend had forgotten all about their conversation.  
  
The Ishtar boy never forgot.  
  
He always believed it, though. Bakura might be the most powerful player in the game...  
  
But Malik was the one who would turn up unexpected at the crucial moment.  
  
Malik had faith in his friend. He trusted him implicitly, turned to him when his parents died, and knew that when he was with Bakura, nothing could harm him. When you were with the second-in-line to the throne, you were safe.  
  
He should have learned eventually that when you have too much faith in something, it is bound to hurt you. Too much faith in anything will suck you dry.  
  
* * *  
  
Ryou staggered through the second day with wide, haunted eyes.  
  
He /wasn't/ dying. He couldn't be. He said it to himself, over and over.  
  
I'm not dying.  
  
What was the first symptom? Weakness?  
  
He wasn't weak. No weaker than usual.  
  
The only reason the plates seemed to get gradually heavier and the same set of steps grew harder and harder to climb was muscle fatigue. Perfectly normal.  
  
Not dying.  
  
Despite his fierce refusal to believe the demon, he still went to Mokuba the moment he discovered that no one needed him.  
  
The boy inspected the watch, then shrugged. "I can't get it off without taking off your hand." He glanced up, dark blue eyes widening. "You don't /want/ me to - "  
  
"Only if you can do it with a minimum of pain and an absolute guarantee you can put it back on," Ryou said. "I want that thing off me."  
  
Mokuba shook his head. "I can't control the power. I have no idea what to do. Ask the other healers - "  
  
"I wouldn't trust just anyone!" Ryou gazed glumly at the floor. "I have to get it off. I /have/ to. It's a matter of life and death."  
  
Mokuba's eyes glittered with concern and a certain professional curiosity. "How so?"  
  
"Well...it started in our time, when a demon showed up in our house searching for something..."  
  
**If I smile and don't believe  
  
Soon I know I'll wake from this dream  
  
Don't try to fix me, I'm not broken  
  
Hello, I'm the lie  
  
Living for you so you can hide  
  
Don't cry**  
  
Joey's depression lasted well into the second day. He wanted Mai, he wanted her to want /him/, but not because of a spell. Although, if there /had/ to be a spell, why was it Yugi, of all people?  
  
He was in a fairly dark room, lit by a single torch which hung near the entrance. It seemed to be a small armory - though "armory" implied armor, and there wasn't any, just rows and rows of pointed sticks. Weapons at their most basic.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
The voice was so familiar, and he jerked around to stare. He couldn't see much, just luminous purple eyes and torchlight on blonde hair.  
  
"Mai?"  
  
The girl smiled. "Were you in the throne room yesterday, when the spell went off?"  
  
He stepped hesitantly forward. "Yes, you know that. Did they find the counter? Are you still in love with Yugi? You haven't /done/ anything, have you?"  
  
She shook her head violently. "No! Never. Even with the spell...I can't believe I saw Yugi first." She put a slight emphasis on the name; maybe out of disgust? Joey wasn't sure.  
  
"That's good."  
  
"I mean, what is he, a slave?" She walked forward and touched his face.  
  
"Y-yes..."  
  
"I don't /really/ love him," she said, and reached up to kiss him firmly on the lips. He didn't stop to think, but wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed back, hard. She felt so /nice/ and...why was she wearing a robe? /That/ wasn't standard handmaiden clothing...  
  
Of course, once rational thought was working, he pushed her away. "Mai, what about Bakura? He'd kill me if he knew - "  
  
"Bakura?" she asked, eyes glinting angrily. "What /about/ Bakura?"  
  
"You love him," Joey said. "He loves you. I love you. But that doesn't matter, because you two are together, and I'm not going to get involved again. Don't make me."  
  
She stared at him, and it dawned on him that something about her eyes wasn't right. They were darker than usual, and very, very angry.  
  
"I'm going to talk to him," she said. "Right now."  
  
* * *  
  
Shizu stalked along the corridor, glanced around to make sure no one was looking, and slipped through the secret doorway into the catacombs.  
  
Mai. That must be the handmaiden who looked like her. She'd been counting on it; no one would talk about things like love spells in front of a noble, but all handmaidens gossiped.  
  
It had been sheer luck that she'd run into a guard who knew the victim of the spell. Sheer luck that he'd said what she needed to know.  
  
Yugi. A slave.  
  
But that wasn't important. Akil - Bakura, he wanted to be called Bakura - was supposedly in love with someone else. A handmaiden, no less. Unheard of.  
  
He wasn't in their room. She questioned several other rebels, but they all shrugged.  
  
Oh, well. She'd see him tonight.  
  
It didn't matter. The plan didn't have to change. In fact, maybe it was better that he loved Mai. That could work out in favor of...  
  
Shizu suddenly found that she was in no mood for plotting.  
  
**Suddenly I know I'm not sleeping  
  
Hello, I'm still here  
  
All that's left of yesterday**  
  
The only reason that Mai stopped kissing Yugi was that they were discovered.  
  
"Why is it always me?"  
  
She broke away, gasping for breath, and shot a death glare at Ryou. Her eyes immediately softened upon realizing that he didn't have that traumatized, oh-my-God-the-end-is-near look on his face. He seemed...resigned. And so very depressed.  
  
"It's not what it looks like," Yugi said hastily. "She dropped her, um, ring - "  
  
"In your mouth?" Ryou asked reasonably. "It's okay. I understand. Love spell. At least it isn't bloody fatal!"  
  
Yes, something was definitely wrong with him.  
  
Mai reached out to touch his arm, and he yanked away. "Don't. That's all I need, one little cut with those /talons/ of yours and I could bleed to death!"  
  
Mai inspected her fingernails. "They're not sharp, and you're not a hemophiliac."  
  
"Not yet."  
  
"Are you okay?" Yugi asked.  
  
"You're so oblivious," Mai said. "And I like it." That last bit was out before she could help it; she yelped and covered her mouth, mumbling, "Sorry, sorry..."  
  
"Words cannot hurt me." Yugi shuddered. "If you kiss me again, that might."  
  
"I'm going to die," Ryou wailed, and collapsed theatrically.  
  
After a moment, Mai nudged him with her toe. He rolled over and stared at the ceiling with large, weary eyes.  
  
"I /hate him/," he said suddenly.  
  
"Erm, who?" Yugi asked.  
  
"Yami!" Upon noticing their confusion, Ryou snapped, "Mine! I hate him!"  
  
"You don't /mean/ that," Mai said.  
  
"I'm dying and it's his fault! I'd bloody well /say/ I hate him! Who goes around making deals with demons, anyway?"  
  
Yugi and Mai exchanged glances. This was not like Ryou at all. They hadn't been aware that the word "hate" was even in his vocabulary.  
  
~~  
  
A/N: Ha, told you the kisses wouldn't be who you thought. Now, seriously, who would've guessed the Joey/Shizu kiss? Hmm?  
  
I'm serious! This is Mai/Bakura! You don't believe me!  
  
Notes to the Reviewers: Not so many, this time around. Hmm. Well, general thanks.  
  
Night Beauty: Persian, eh? I don't remember when the Persian empire started. Hmm. I first heard the name Leila in a book set in Egypt. It /sounds/ vaguely Egyptian. Didn't the Persian empire control Egypt once? Okay, no one cares. :P  
  
Mori: Sorry, no Mai/Bakura this chappie. Soon, though. Promise.  
  
LiLianJieGurl: Yeah, poor Joey. It will only get worse for him.although /probably/ he'll get to kiss Mai at some point. I mean, really. Poetic justice, anyone? Malik.love Malik. Especially cunning-plan!Malik. Although if you want evil plots, keep an eye on Shizu. She is very, very bad.actually, I think I mentioned her current plan a few chapters ago. Hmm.  
  
Azzie@Az: Ryou's a darling, isn't he? Poor dear.  
  
Rei Mayonaka: Well, I feel sorry for Joey and Ryou. They're probably going to suffer the most. Oh! Except for Malik.  
  
Next Chapter: Haunted. Summary in poem form. Joey and Yugi have a big fight / Ryou's illness keeps him up all night / Mai wanders the castle and feels quite alone / Malik's cunning plan is finally known / Shizu's so evil and 'Kura's so clueless / Did you know that in Egypt, they often went shoeless? / The love spell is broken, but no end for the strife / A cliffhanger causes attempts on my life. 


	7. Haunted

Chapter Six: Haunted  
  
Bakura liked to think that he was an intelligent person.  
  
Unfortunately, that belief was completely wrong in relation to reading women's feelings.  
  
He did not notice the steel in Shizu's eyes, didn't notice the ultra- relaxed posture as she leaned against the wall in their bedroom. He grinned quite happily, in fact.  
  
"Shizu, hi! I was looking for you!"  
  
"What a coincidence," she said dryly. "/I/ was looking for /you/. Word among the slaves is that you don't love me anymore."  
  
"Of course I do," he said, still far too cheerful. He had just been to see Yami, and not only had he evaded capture, but they had had a long talk about chess. Kaiba had been there, but that didn't matter. The point was that Bakura was happy. All was well in the land of Egypt - no shadow monsters, no fire or water from the sky. Everything was fine.  
  
Except for Mai. But he was trying not to think about that.  
  
Unfortunately, Shizu didn't know about Yami, and was already suspicious.  
  
"You /cheater/!" she screeched. He winced.  
  
"What? I haven't..."  
  
"You're in love with that /handmaiden/! Princes do /not/ fall for handmaidens!"  
  
"I haven't...?"  
  
She was obviously overreacting. She would get over it.  
  
"I've got a plan," Shizu snapped. "You won't like it."  
  
"No, I won't." He stared at her. "I love /you/. I do. Really."  
  
I do. Really.  
  
The worst /possible/ thing he could have said.  
  
She threw a pillow at him and swore viciously in Egyptian. He ran away.  
  
* * *  
  
Upon realizing that Ryou was very serious about his condition, Mai and Yugi agreed that she would take him to find Bakura, while Yugi informed his Yami about it. They separated. Yugi was relieved; Mai felt an awful ache in her chest at the thought of losing him.  
  
Mai and Ryou ran into Mokuba, who whisked Ryou away to talk to some other healers. Mai began to follow them, then thought better of it.  
  
She told herself that she most definitely was not looking for Bakura. She was mad at him. She couldn't /feel/ the anger, but as soon as Kaiba got the spell off, she would be furious. He had been /kissing/ that girl yesterday, and that was cheating...  
  
She managed to get completely lost, and found that she didn't care. Alone, she was safe with her thoughts. Alone, she wouldn't be kissing anyone.  
  
She was just starting to adjust to being alone when Joey staggered out of the armory.  
  
She caught his arm to keep them both upright. "You okay?" she asked.  
  
"How can you ask that?" he replied. "You just - I mean...you shouldn't kiss people like that."  
  
She blinked, then realized that he must know about the kiss she had shared with Yugi. "Oh - it meant nothing."  
  
He resolutely stared at a spot several inches to her right. "Oh, thanks. That's reassuring."  
  
"Look, the spell - "  
  
"I don't care about the spell!" He glanced down and noticed at the same time Mai did that her hand was still resting on his forearm. He shook it off. "What I care about is that - "  
  
"Look!" she yelled. "Okay, you're upset. I get that. But /there is nothing between us/. Okay, Joey? Not me and you, not me and Yugi. Most /definitely/ not me and Yugi. I kissed him because I was going crazy, not doing it, and we didn't get very far, and Ryou - "  
  
"Wait, you kissed /Yugi/?"  
  
Mai nodded slowly, trying to catch his eyes, but he refused to look at her. "I had to. Joey, look, I know how you feel, but what about Bakura and Tea? If anything happened with us, I mean, what would they think?"  
  
"There isn't an us," he said softly. "I can accept that. But you - and Yugi - "  
  
"It isn't real! It just feels that way! But it's not!" He started to walk away and she ran after him. "You listen to me, Joey Wheeler! I'm not in love with..."  
  
She couldn't say the name.  
  
The spell sprang into action and closed off her vocal cords. She /wanted/ to say that she didn't love Yugi, but the thought now hovering at the top of her mind was that she /did/, of course she did, why was she trying to say something so stupid?  
  
And while she struggled to finish her sentence, Joey turned a corner and vanished.  
  
Mai stood there for a few minutes until she beat the spell back far enough to realize that, in all probability, things were probably a lot worse now than they had been before.  
  
**Long lost words whisper slowly to me  
  
Still can't find what keeps me here  
  
When all this time I've been so hollow inside  
  
I know you're still there**  
  
Ryou spent the day talking to the healers. Well, actually, just Mokuba. The other healers confirmed that he was ill, but refused to be tainted by contact with him. They could sense that it was otherworldly in origin.  
  
And they couldn't fix it.  
  
Ryou managed to avoid the nobles that evening, and, exhausted, found an out- of-the-way corner to curl up in.  
  
He couldn't sleep.  
  
That was the second symptom, wasn't it? Harder and harder to sleep at night...then the visions. There weren't any visions yet, but he was so tired, and couldn't fall asleep.  
  
So tired...  
  
The demon had said it would take a few days, but it had started almost immediately. Why?  
  
It took Ryou an hour to discover the answer, and he didn't like it. The demon had said something about going back five thousand years. "Didn't know you had it in you." Maybe...maybe the illness worked faster if you used more of Sathaugula's power? That almost had to be it.  
  
How long did he have to live? No more than a week, surely. He was too tired to try any calculations.  
  
Insomnia...not a pleasant disease.  
  
But better than what the demon had said was in store.  
  
* * *  
  
The third day dawned bright and clear.  
  
That was not necessarily a good thing.  
  
"The light - it burns," Kaiba moaned, shielding his eyes.  
  
"Were we really up all night?" Yami asked brightly. "Just playing games? Wow."  
  
Kaiba slumped against the wall and yawned. King of Games. What an appropriate title. Yami had won three games of chess, five of checkers, and, as soon as they'd had cards made out of thin sheets of wood, every single card game that either of them knew. Not to mention that he had never lost a single game of Solitaire.  
  
"When we get back," Kaiba said, "I am going to introduce you to the wide world of video games. You will never beat me at Dynasty Warriors."  
  
Yami snickered. "Oh, really? And which character do you play? That insane guy with the claws? 'Was the enemy camp...pretty?'"  
  
Mokuba poked his head into the room. "Oh, I know that quote. It's hilarious. No, Seto plays the girl with the chakrams."  
  
"Chakrams are cool," Kaiba said defensively. "And how do you know about Dynasty Warriors, pharaoh?"  
  
Yami grinned brightly. "We rented it last year. I personally prefer the spears and swords."  
  
Kaiba muttered something about "phallic objects" and dropped the subject. He staggered to his feet. "I have to go bully the priests for that counter- spell. See you later."  
  
* * *  
  
Yugi wandered aimlessly through the castle and eventually ran into Mai doing the same thing.  
  
"Yesterday," they began at the same time.  
  
"Horrible?" Yugi suggested.  
  
Mai nodded emphatically. "Dreadful."  
  
"Never again."  
  
"No, never."  
  
Neither of them was particularly surprised when she bent down and kissed him, hard.  
  
He didn't try to kiss back, but allowed her to nudge him up against the wall, and didn't make any move to resist. He could tell that she wanted this, and understood how awful it must be for her, and at least if he cooperated she wouldn't do this anymore...hopefully...  
  
This time, they heard the footsteps coming and sprang apart. Joey walked around the corner to find Yugi staring innocently at the ceiling and Mai brushing a speck of imaginary dirt off of her skirt.  
  
"Yug'," he said, without any sort of emotion leaking into his voice. "Can I talk to you?"  
  
"Sure," Yugi said. "Haven't seen you since the first day here, have I?"  
  
"No." Joey shot a quick glance at Mai, then headed off. Yugi ran to catch up with them.  
  
Mai sighed and crossed her arms. Alone again.  
  
**Watching me, wanting me  
  
I can feel you pull me down  
  
Fearing you, loving you  
  
I won't let you pull me down**  
  
Bakura found Malik overlooking the Nile, and nervously went to stand beside his friend.  
  
"It's deep," he said.  
  
"Sure is," Malik agreed. "Allergies kicked in yet?"  
  
Bakura resisted the urge to touch the hilt of his sword. "No. I think you were wrong."  
  
They were silent for a moment; then Malik grinned. "You know, I could tell you the plan, if you really wanted to know."  
  
"The plan," Bakura said distantly. Shizu had a plan. She'd even said he wouldn't like it. Just like Malik.  
  
"See, it involves using your brother. As an ally. And I knew you'd hate that - but Shizu's going to kill me, you know she hates me, and if we - "  
  
"I'm not hearing anything I don't like," Bakura noted. "I know Shizu doesn't like you. I suspect that she doesn't like me half so well as she pretends. She's mad at me."  
  
Malik blinked, filed this information away, and continued, "The plan is, we tell your brother everything, he storms the catacombs, slaughters all the rebels, and we'll be rewarded by having our outlaw status revoked. Takes care of a lot of problems. The only hard part is getting the pharaoh to trust us without having us executed..."  
  
Executed.  
  
'Love spells. Irreversible. Breakable only by death...'  
  
Death alone.  
  
For one brief moment, Bakura understood the entire plan. But he had to be sure.  
  
"Good plan, really cunning, they'll never expect it, have to go!"  
  
Malik watched his friend dash off for the palace. He hadn't explained the best part, though...  
  
The part where, just when they'd been royally pardoned, they assassinated the pharaoh.  
  
Just like they'd planned all along.  
  
**Hunting you, I can smell you - alive  
  
Your heart pounding in my head  
  
Watching me, wanting me  
  
I can feel you pull me down  
  
Saving me, raping me  
  
Watching me**  
  
Bakura, head aching desperately from fear, found his way to the room he shared (albeit unwillingly) with Shizu. She was there, sitting cross-legged on the pallet, smiling innocently.  
  
"Please," he said. "No more cunning plans. No more evil plans. No more plans of any sort! I've had enough!"  
  
She pouted prettily. "But this one is so good!"  
  
He sighed, tried to keep his voice steady. "What?"  
  
"Well," she said, in a low voice with a touch of pride, "I've decided that we have to get the magic back from the love spell. The only way to do that...is to break it."  
  
"You know a counter-spell?" he asked dully.  
  
Her laugh was musical, and, in a scary way, a lot like Mai's. "Of course not. There is none."  
  
The suspicion that had been lingering since - well, since he'd returned to Egypt, really - clarified itself. "You're going to kill Mai?" he asked.  
  
She blinked. "No, of course not. She's useful."  
  
"But..."  
  
He only /looked/ stupid, at that moment. Really, he'd figured out her plan back at the Nile - well, most of it. And, despite the fact that he really strongly disliked Yugi, despite the fact that he really wanted Mai back the way she had been, he could deny it no longer.  
  
He was not a sadistic creep.  
  
And...dammit...those self-absorbed...those.../people/...  
  
They were his friends.  
  
In a way.  
  
Not /really/.  
  
"Don't do it!" he cried. "You can't just murder an innocent slave!"  
  
She winked. "Watch me. Now, dear, I knew you wouldn't approve - you've been so /weird/ lately - so I took the liberty of sending out our two finest assassins. I mean, besides you and Malik."  
  
/How/ could she look so innocent and idiotic?  
  
Without arguing, without even bothering to scream a curse, Bakura turned on his heel and ran desperately from the room.  
  
* * *  
  
Joey was no longer even sure where they were, just that they were alone, for the first time since they'd ended up in Egypt.  
  
"So, you kissed her," he said.  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"Even though you know I love her."  
  
"Joey, I'm sorry."  
  
"Even though - "  
  
"Joey!" Yugi yelled. This was such a rare occurence that it actually made Joey shut up. "I said I was sorry! It just happened! I don't like her that way!"  
  
"You could have done what /everyone we know/ has been telling you to do for /three days now/ and /stayed away from her/!" Joey was being irrational, and he knew it, and he didn't really care anymore. "I mean, Yug', you're my best friend! How could you - "  
  
"I'm not the one cheating on my girlfriend!"  
  
They were so engrossed in their argument that they completely failed to notice that two dark-robed figures were blocking their way until they ran into them.  
  
"Awk," Yugi said, and took several steps backward. Joey joined him, drawing his sword almost instinctively.  
  
"What do you want?"  
  
Though the figures' faces were shrouded in shadow by their hoods, he swore he could see one smirk. "The small one. He is the object of a love spell."  
  
"No kidding," Joey said.  
  
"We are here to break it."  
  
Yugi took a hesitant step forward, his violet eyes suddenly shining with relief. "You have a counter-spell?"  
  
"Yes," said the other person. "One that has worked since the creation of such spells. The only one."  
  
There was something very wrong with that, but Joey was hard-put to find it. "So, do your little spell, and be done with it."  
  
Yugi, though remarkably innocent for a boy his age, was not quite as dense as his friend. "But shouldn't it be done on Mai, not me?"  
  
One dark robe twitched aside, one hand touched the hilt of a copper sword. "We don't kill women."  
  
Click. The pieces slid into place. Yugi stepped backward and to the side, staring from Joey to the men in confusion and fear.  
  
Joey raised the point of his sword, hoping that he wasn't trembling as badly as he thought he was. "If you want to kill him, you have to go through me."  
  
The assassin took a step forward, then another, leaving his partner to guard the passageway. "You cannot hope to fight me."  
  
Joey kept his sword up, wondering if he could kill this man if it became necessary. "I'm a guard for a reason."  
  
Step. "You cannot hope to outrun me."  
  
"I'll have you know I'm on the track team!" A lie. Joey hated sports that involved running.  
  
Step. "I know these hallways far better than you."  
  
Joey considered this. Well, that was a lie that was just too big to say. He had no idea where they were. "The pharaoh likes us. He would - "  
  
Step sideways.  
  
And in one horrible moment, Joey realized that the assassin had not been walking toward /him/ at all.  
  
Yugi barely had time to voice a surprised shriek before the assassin grabbed him and thrust him forward, hard, onto the outstretched point of Joey's sword.  
  
Joey knew then, dreadfully, irrevocably, and unforgettably, how it felt to kill a living being.  
  
Yugi stumbled backward, the sword sliding out of his chest, covered to the hilt in blood. Then, his eyes registering only shock, he crumpled to the ground. Joey stood where he was, nerveless fingers clenched around the sword, too horrified to move.  
  
The assassins laughed and glided away. They did not care that Joey sagged to his knees, the sword clattering to the floor. They did not care how many lives they had shattered. Their swords were clean, their own lives safe from Shizu's wrath, and the ultimate plans could continue.  
  
Another effortless victory for the rebels.  
  
**Watching me, wanting me  
  
I can feel you pull me down  
  
Fearing you, loving you  
  
I won't let you pull me down**  
  
Mai felt it immediately, the hot weight that had been on her for almost three days now vanishing suddenly. She felt alive. And free. In control, for the first time since the spell had hit her. It was gone.  
  
/Gone/.  
  
The moments of elation quickly died as she realized. ~Oh...the spell is off me...~  
  
Yugi...  
  
She leaned against the wall, feeling quite unable to stand up on her own. She didn't know how long it was, but soon felt hands gripping her shoulders. "Mai - are you - "  
  
"The spell is off me," she said dully. "Kaiba, please, tell me you found a cure..."  
  
"Oh, no," she heard him say. "Mai - I'm going to check on Yugi. I'll be back. Stay here, don't move..."  
  
He ran off, and she sank to the floor, shaking all over by now. Kaiba hadn't found the cure. There was only one other way to break the spell.  
  
~Maybe one of the other priests found the counter, and performed it without telling him,~ she thought wildly.  
  
Maybe.  
  
But that part of herself that insisted on being stupidly realistic knew, without a doubt, that if the spell was off her, it was already too late.  
  
~~  
  
A/N: Augh, yes, I'm evil, I know! Don't storm my house! Not all is as it seems! I have a cunning plan! Don't stop reading! Don't hate me!  
  
Dynasty Warriors is an excellent game for PlayStation 2. Play it. See if you can figure out which characters they were talking about.  
  
Next Chapter: Tourniquet. Five gossiping handmaidens, four brutal murders, three sadistic priests, two unexpected kidnappings, one misuse of Sathaugula, and a partridge in a pear tree.  
  
No, no partridge really. Sorry. But, in the spirit of not being the sadistic, angsty person Phoenix has accused me of being, there will be these lines: "A feather duster made by a Norwegian! It's all starting to...make sense..." and "ALL MY FRIENDS TURNED INTO GIANT WEDGES OF CHEESE AND FLOATED AWAY!" Neither of those quotes is mine; the first is from Whose Line Is It Anyway? and the second is by my friend Rela, who was trying to mentally scar another friend. It did not work. However, it has provided years of amusement.  
  
I have decided that two stories do not a happy DarkMage make. Yes, this will become a trilogy. With...a prequel. It is like LotR only without the Silmarillion.  
  
Speaking of LotR, one month to "Return of the King" and I am a happy fan.  
  
The prequel is Necessary. The threequel is...not. Wah, I'm hopeless.  
  
The Bakura/Malik duel was just on...wah. So sad. I wuv Bakura. Just in case anyone was in doubt.  
  
Oh! One more quick thing! Rei Mayonaka asked how long it took me to write the chapter summary poem last time...only a few minutes, actually. This was probably the easiest chapter to write because I already knew exactly what was going to happen. I had difficulty with the last two lines of the poem, though...the first time I wrote it, they didn't rhyme. 


	8. Tourniquet

Chapter Seven: Tourniquet  
  
Bakura arrived just in time to see Yugi slump to the ground, blood oozing from his chest.  
  
"Oh, gods," Bakura whispered, and leaned against the wall, eyes wide with horror. "I'm too late."  
  
The assassins did not see him, and glided away in the opposite direction. Bakura took a step closer to Joey, trying to ignore the sudden stinging on his wrist. Damn Sathaugula...probably it was on too tight...  
  
Sathaugula...  
  
He raised his arm and stared at the glittering gold and crystal of the demonic watch. He could see it, he could remember it - and that meant that he /needed/ it...  
  
He looked down at Yugi. Or maybe...someone /else/ needed it...  
  
Joey was crying now, wracking sobs that tore through his body. Better hurry, then, before the blonde had a complete nervous breakdown. Bakura tapped the watch, and thought very hard about what he wanted.  
  
The thing about Bakura was that he watched movies more than was probably good for him. He'd seen a lot of murder mysteries, and in one, he remembered the talk about cryogenics. That had been the one with the case where the victim had been resurrected, because he had been frozen within minutes of his death, and this enabled the doctors to restart his heart. You had to stop the neurons from firing, or something. As long as the brainwaves were preserved, theoretically, anything was possible.  
  
Well, null time would work just as well as ice for that purpose.  
  
Bakura's fierce concentration on that thought activated Sathaugula. Nothing seemed to change, but to the trained eye, one might see that the bleeding had stopped. Nothing within several inches of Yugi was moving; he was trapped outside of time. A healer could reach him now, and fix it.  
  
Satisfied, Bakura stepped back, then realized that Sathaugula was burning him. He bit his lip in pain.  
  
~It's still working,~ something inside him thought. ~You're an idiot. If you're going to stop time, why not turn it back as well?~  
  
Hmm. Logical.  
  
Well, that was interesting. Apparently, once Sathaugula knew what Bakura wanted, it would take its own path. Indeed, he could see the hands of the watch spinning slowly backwards.  
  
But /why/ had it appeared? He had asked for it to be insurance for his own life, not anyone else's...  
  
"Gods," he whispered.  
  
Coincidence. He hadn't thought of coincidence, because /so/ few things were coincidental in his life.  
  
But this was coincidental. Yugi had died, and Sathaugula had reappeared in time to save him. But it should only be there to save /one/ person...  
  
Bakura spun around, felt something smash into his skull, and sank into darkness.  
  
* * *  
  
Joey crawled forward, on hands and knees. He reached out to touch Yugi's hair, noticing as he did that his hands were splashed with drops of blood.  
  
"Yugi," he whispered. It was a desperate reflex, born of habit. He didn't want to accept this, but still assumed that Yugi was dead. However, he felt that he would.../know/, somehow, if his friend was gone. They were so close, after all. But no - he didn't feel...anything. Just this numbness that went on and on, and the tears that came unbidden.  
  
"You know," he said, his throat constricting, "I always thought that I would follow you to the gates of hell itself. And when we were there..." A choked sob rose, and he barely managed to continue, "When we were there, I figured that I would...ask the gatekeeper to take me instead of you. And if he wouldn't...I would ask to come with you. And if he wouldn't let me...I would wait for you...until the end of time..."  
  
"So sentimental," Yugi whispered.  
  
Joey jerked his hand back and almost screamed as his friend turned his face to him, eyes fluttering open.  
  
"Did it miss?" Yugi asked calmly.  
  
"It must have," Joey replied wildly. Of /course/ it must have, because if it hadn't...  
  
"It did not." Yugi coughed and struggled to sit up. "I felt it go through my chest. Your hands...they're bloody."  
  
Joey trembled with slightly-delayed anguish, and bit his lip hard. He tasted blood, knew that he should be hurting physically, but could only feel the dull ache in his head, finally reaching past the numbness. "Yugi..."  
  
Yugi finally managed to get to his knees, and looked down at himself. "I'm bloody too. But it's not bleeding anymore, and I don't feel anything." He tilted his head and stared hard at Joey. "I must be dying. But I don't feel like I am."  
  
"I could get Yami," Joey cried, and started to get up.  
  
"No! Don't! Stay with me...something's happening..."  
  
Yugi's gaze traveled to a spot slightly to his right, and he reached out to grip Joey's arm. "Or it's.../not/ happening..."  
  
Joey followed his friend's stare and saw what had so captivated him. A fly, suspended in midair, not even a quiver in its wings.  
  
"You're not bleeding," Joey said slowly. "And it's not moving."  
  
"I think," Yugi said, his grip tightening painfully, "that time has...stopped..."  
  
"That makes sense." Joey shook Yugi's hand off. "Oh, wait, no it doesn't. It's like...it's like saying a feather duster made by a Norwegian...would make this begin to make sense! You must be dead and I've gone completely insane! Even if time had stopped, how are you and I still moving?"  
  
Yugi reached out and laid his palm flat against the air, like a mime would during a show. "I'm boxed in. Can't get out. Time isn't moving in here...I'm not breathing," he added. "Did you notice? My heart isn't beating. But I'm alive."  
  
"Impossible..."  
  
"We went back in time five thousand years, Joey. A little thing like this is certainly possible."  
  
**I tried to kill the pain  
  
But only brought more (so much more)  
  
I lay dying and I'm pouring crimson regret and betrayal  
  
I'm dying, praying, bleeding, and screaming  
  
Am I too lost to be saved?  
  
Am I too lost?**  
  
When Kaiba finally found the two, they had not moved. Joey had one blood- speckled hand resting on Yugi's shoulder, as if to reassure himself that his friend was not a ghost, while the formerly-dead boy knelt in the box of null-time.  
  
"Oh, my God," Kaiba cried, running forward. "What - how - "  
  
"My sentiments exactly," Joey said. "He was dead, Kaiba. I /know/ that he was. He could not have survived. But..."  
  
"I feel fine," Yugi chirped. "Better than fine, actually. I think I was actually dead. That's great. That means maybe the spell was broken."  
  
"It was," Kaiba said slowly, his head spinning. "I ran into Mai, she was absolutely torn up about it. Someone should tell her that he's all right...alive, at least."  
  
"I'll go," Joey said immediately. "Don't die while I'm gone, Yug'."  
  
As the blonde dashed off, Kaiba crouched beside Yugi and said something Joey didn't quite catch - no doubt asking what exactly had happened.  
  
Joey knew one thing - he had no intention of telling Mai that Yugi wasn't dead.  
  
Not right away, at least.  
  
Women were easily seduced when overcome with grief.  
  
Later, Joey would have cause to wonder at this dark and devious plot, so unlike him. As it was, all he knew was that at last, he had the means to recapture Mai's attentions.  
  
* * *  
  
Ryou had been enlisted that day as a message-runner. He had been carrying correspondence back and forth for hours between the head cook and a nobleman. They were apparently carrying on a passionate affair for which the cook could be executed if it was found out; they were planning to run away together in two weeks.  
  
Most slaves were illiterate. Ryou wasn't.  
  
He perused the latest note with some interest as he instinctively navigated the corridors toward the kitchens.  
  
'Dearest - I understand your fears. Were I to book passage for your family, would they accompany us, knowing that beheading awaits them if they remain? I hear Phoenicia is nice this time of year - plenty of need for hard workers. Not me, of course. -N.'  
  
Ryou snickered. /Noblemen/. Even when they were giving up their rights to be with mere servants, they still refused to do a day's labor.  
  
He heard muffled sobs and quickly closed up the letter, trying to look innocent. He immediately recognized Mai, sitting against a wall, crying into her hands.  
  
"Mai," he cried, running toward her. "Are you - "  
  
"Yugi's dead!" she wailed, throwing her arms around his neck. "He's dead, he must be! The spell's off so he's /dead/!"  
  
Ryou's legs gave out, whether from shock or his illness he couldn't tell. He collapsed beside her and hesitantly patted her back while she sobbed into his shoulder.  
  
"S'okay," he whispered. "I'm sure he's not - I mean, how could he be - Yami would know?"  
  
"And have you /seen/ Yami?" she demanded, sounding slightly muffled since she didn't lift her head. "Did Yami /tell/ you that Yugi was fine? /I'm/ the one under a love spell - or not, not anymore - so /I/ would know, and if the spell is off me..."  
  
She continued to weep into Ryou's shoulder, and he attempted valiantly to get into a more comfortable position. "He /can't/ be," Ryou said. "That's just - not possible."  
  
At this point, Joey ran up to them, his hands streaked with blood. "Oh, there you are," he said.  
  
"Joey," Mai wailed. "Yugi's dead..."  
  
The blond made no reply to this, but dropped to his knees beside the two. "The spell is off, then?"  
  
Ryou gratefully handed Mai over to Joey, and stood up. "I have work to do," he said. "Yugi - is he really gone?"  
  
"I'm not sure," Joey said, which was the absolute truth. "We'll go find Yami...shh, Mai, it's all right..."  
  
Ryou didn't stay long enough to find out whether or not Joey got Mai calmed down; he was already late with the letter, which was now crumpled and stained from Mai's tears. He didn't believe that his friend was dead, wouldn't believe it until he saw with his own eyes.  
  
However, the confusion and fear that had settled over his mind caused him to forget that, as a slave, he wasn't supposed to be able to read. As he handed the letter to the cook, he said absently, "I don't think the pharaoh would execute your family if they stayed here..."  
  
The cook stared at him, quickly read the letter, and stared some more. Ryou didn't notice, and as he carried her reply back to the nobleman, he didn't bother to read it.  
  
As he waited for the nobleman to formulate a response, Ryou leaned against the wall. He was /so/ tired, but sleep just wouldn't come. It didn't matter, though. He decided to stop by the throne room and see if Yami was there on his way back to the kitchens.  
  
"Ah," the nobleman said, startling Ryou out of his reverie. "I see by this note that you can read."  
  
"Yessir," the boy replied.  
  
"Well, for obvious reasons, we cannot have witnesses to our departure..."  
  
Ryou blinked. "Oh! You think I'll tell someone! I wouldn't. I don't think what you're doing is wrong..."  
  
The nobleman snapped his fingers, and the two guards who had been standing motionless outside his door entered.  
  
"This slave," the nobleman said patiently, "is guilty of conspiring against the kingdom. You needn't take him to the pharaoh. Just...dispose of him."  
  
Before Ryou could react, the guards grabbed him by the elbows and held him fast. "You want us to throw him in the Nile?" one asked.  
  
The nobleman stared at Ryou thoughtfully. "No," he said. "He can read, he might also be able to swim. He is weak, however. Take him to the catacombs and lock him up."  
  
The guards snickered and dragged Ryou from the room. "I didn't do anything," Ryou said half-heartedly, knowing perfectly well that it wouldn't do any good.  
  
Oh, well. At least they were taking him to the catacombs. His yami could help him there.  
  
**My God, my tourniquet  
  
Return to me salvation  
  
My God, my tourniquet  
  
Return to me salvation**  
  
Luckily for Yugi, a handmaiden happened upon him and Kaiba a few minutes after Joey left. Seeing the blood that drenched Yugi, she screamed.  
  
"Thank God," Kaiba sighed. "Girl, bring the pharaoh, and the first healer- mage you find."  
  
She turned and fled, calling desperately for a healer.  
  
"Kaiba?" Yugi asked quietly.  
  
"Yeah?" the CEO asked. To avoid meeting the younger boy's eyes, he examined the blood that was smeared on the hem of his robes.  
  
"It was Joey who, um, had the sword."  
  
"I guessed that."  
  
"How? All I told you was - "  
  
"That you were waylaid by two men in navy blue robes," Kaiba interrupted. "I noticed that you didn't mention any details about the stabbing, not to mention that Joey seemed far more heartbroken than I would expect, even from him. Oh, and his sword was not in his scabbard. It's over there, covered in blood."  
  
"Oh." Yugi glanced over at the sword; his blood was rapidly drying on the blade. "Um, Kaiba?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"What happens if the healers can't fix this?"  
  
Kaiba retrieved the sword and began a minute examination of it. "I think you can guess."  
  
There was silence for about five minutes.  
  
"Kaiba?"  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"I don't want to die."  
  
* * *  
  
Yami was busy studying Egyptian law with the help of several priests when a handmaiden ran into the throne room. She was flushed with exertion, and her dark hair hung in disarray. Almost immediately on her heels came Joey and Mai. The latter was still crying, and Joey had to support her. He raised his eyes to the pharaoh. There was fear there, and something else that Yami couldn't identify.  
  
The handmaiden collapsed at the foot of the dais. "A slave," she cried, "in the north corridor, blood everywhere, O Light of the Morning! The High Priest humbly requests your presence!"  
  
"A slave?" Yami asked, his eyes going instantly to Joey and Mai.  
  
"Yugi," Joey mouthed.  
  
"I need a healer," Yami barked, jumping off of the dais and running over to his friends. "What's happened?" he asked, somewhat quieter.  
  
"Yugi was stabbed," Joey whispered. "Mai felt the love spell leave."  
  
"Where's the north corridor?"  
  
"I can find it," Mokuba said, joining them. "I can also do a healing, if Seto will let me."  
  
"Let's go, then."  
  
Yami and Mokuba dashed from the room. As soon as the priests figured out what had just happened, several of them followed.  
  
Joey sank to the ground and wrapped his arms around Mai, who didn't seem to realize that it was him holding her. "It's too late," she murmured.  
  
Joey said nothing.  
  
He hadn't held her like this since that day they'd gone to see "The Taming of the Shrew." That had been the day before she broke up with him.  
  
~I was happy with Tea,~ he thought idly. ~Then we came here, and now I don't want anyone but the one person I know I can't have...~  
  
Though, judging from how desperately she was hugging him, maybe all was not yet lost...  
  
**Do you remember me  
  
Lost for so long?  
  
Will you be on the other side  
  
Or will you forget me?  
  
I'm dying, praying, bleeding, and screaming  
  
Am I too lost to be saved?  
  
Am I too lost?**  
  
It was a matter of minutes before Yami and Mokuba located Kaiba and Yugi. Yami immediately fell to his knees at his hikari's side.  
  
"Who did this to you?" the pharaoh demanded. "You shall be avenged..."  
  
"It looks worse than it is," Yugi said. "At least, I certainly hope so."  
  
Mokuba also knelt beside Yugi, and reached out to touch his shoulder. "No heartbeat, not breathing," he said. "But it doesn't seem to be getting any worse. Seto, can I fix this?"  
  
"If you can," Kaiba replied. "I don't know how much time we have left."  
  
Mokuba bit his lip and pointed at the gaping wound in Yugi's chest. "Heal," he said firmly, then swiftly recalled the magic when it leapt from his control. "No, not like that..."  
  
"Well, why not?" Yami asked, fixing Mokuba with one of his You-are-/so/- going-down looks, usually seen in the dueling arena.  
  
"It feels like it wants to start his heart," Mokuba explained. "But I have to fix the damage first, or it won't do any good. Time seems to have stopped...but for how long? I can't do this. I don't know how."  
  
"Try," Yami said. Though the Look remained on his face, his voice had taken on an imploring tone.  
  
"If I do it wrong, it means death for Yugi," Mokuba said.  
  
"And if you don't do it at all, something might go wrong before another healer gets here!"  
  
"It's your choice," Kaiba said softly.  
  
Mokuba raised his blue-grey eyes to his brother's. Usually everything was up to Seto. Usually Mokuba was just there to run things behind the scenes. Suddenly thrust to the front lines, he wasn't sure how to proceed.  
  
On the one hand, death for Yugi because Mokuba made a mistake.  
  
On the other, death because he didn't even try.  
  
Someone had once said something very relevant to the situation, Mokuba was sure of that. Success is not about being the best, but doing your best. Something like that.  
  
He pointed again. "Heal," he whispered, and concentrated every effort on /not/ starting Yugi's heart.  
  
Blue-white lightning, which he now noticed was rather similar to the Blue Eyes White Dragon's attack, lanced from his finger and into the wound. Yugi screamed and shut his eyes, reaching out blindly for his yami.  
  
~Please let this work,~ Mokuba prayed. ~Please...~  
  
* * *  
  
The handmaiden who had stumbled upon the near-tragedy was called Khepri, and she was a rebel.  
  
She had no idea of the love spell, of course, being rather a junior member of the rebellion, and not too bright. However, even she had noticed how very much Yugi looked like the pharaoh, and she had noted Mai's resemblance to Shizu.  
  
Khepri joined a small cluster of handmaidens on a pile of cushions near the dais. Though they had been lounging around before, after the excitement they had leapt up, and were now chattering quite loudly.  
  
"Oh, Khepri!" one of them cried. "Is it true? Someone's been murdered?"  
  
"The High Priest is taking interest?" another asked.  
  
The third handmaiden spoke up. "And the pharaoh too, mustn't forget the pharaoh - "  
  
"What makes you think it was murder?" Khepri asked in what she thought was an innocent tone of voice. It wasn't.  
  
"What else could it be?" the previously silent maiden queried.  
  
Khepri was tempted to let them in on the conspiracy, but had a vague feeling that Shizu wouldn't like that. Better to subtly convince them that this was the pharaoh's doing.  
  
"Er," she began. "Well, it's not murder when the pharaoh orders an execution."  
  
Mai and Joey were sitting not far away; both looked up, startled. Khepri didn't notice, and went on, "The slave displeased the pharaoh - "  
  
"All hail God-King Teremun, the Jewel of the Nile," the handmaidens chorused, looking around furtively.  
  
"So he was killed. By..." Khepri looked around; details added to the impact of a story, she knew that, at least. "By /that/ guard!"  
  
She pointed at Joey, who tried to look innocent. However, the damage was already done.  
  
Mai pulled away from him and rubbed at her eyes. "Plucking snitch," she muttered, or something very like it. "Of course it wasn't you."  
  
Joey hesitated a moment too long before saying, "No way."  
  
Mai lifted her eyes, red from crying, to his. "What happened? I know you saw him. And you - were you /cuddling/ me?"  
  
"No," he said hopefully. "I was /comforting/ you."  
  
"Joey Wheeler," she yelled, though not too loudly, so not to attract /too/ much attention. "What part of 'we are over' do you not understand?"  
  
"The 'over' bit..."  
  
"Well, we're through, we're /not/ getting back together, and if you don't tell me what happened RIGHT NOW I will hit you so hard that you'll be halfway to China before the pain reaches your brain!"  
  
"Nice threat," one of the handmaidens whispered.  
  
"You go, girl!" another cheered.  
  
Khepri was silent.  
  
**My God, my tourniquet  
  
Return to me salvation  
  
My God, my tourniquet  
  
Return to me salvation  
  
Return to me salvation**  
  
The second thing Bakura was aware of was that as soon as he became cognizant of his surroundings, Sathaugula disappeared, though for some reason it left the memories of its use behind. The first thing was a throbbing pain in the back of his skull.  
  
He resisted the urge to groan and laid still, listening. He could hear voices, close but far away at the same time, and whoever they were, he wasn't ready to let them know he was awake.  
  
The first voice was a petulant female, a voice he knew. He didn't remember her name, but she was a priestess of Set. He had a vague idea that someone he knew had been in love with her once, but he couldn't remember much of anything except the pain in his head.  
  
"I don't see why we can't just chop off his head," she whined.  
  
Another voice replied, harsh and grating. Priest of Osiris, Bakura thought idly. "He is royalty. You cannot simply /behead/ royalty. That is why his life was saved once before."  
  
"Well, now he's a murderer more than once over! A tomb robber! By all the laws of Egypt, he deserves death!"  
  
"Then at least the pharaoh - "  
  
"Long live the God-King Teremun, the Never-Dying One," the priestess said quickly.  
  
"Oh, stop it. The pharaoh should decide the manner of his death."  
  
"He should suffer the Hom-Dai," a new voice said. This one Bakura could not place, but he didn't like it - devoid of all emotion.  
  
Not to mention that the Hom-Dai was really awful. Scarab beetles were interesting enough, but not when they ate you alive.  
  
Oh, and the mummification-while-still-alive-and-able-to-feel-pain thing.  
  
Contemplating this, Bakura found that it was no longer quite as fascinating as it had been in the movies.  
  
"He's not /that/ bad," the priest of Osiris reprimanded. "I say we throw him to the crocodiles."  
  
"It's drought season," the priestess noted. "They've all swum upriver."  
  
"Damn. He hasn't learned to swim in the past three years, has he?"  
  
The unknown voice laughed cruelly. "Bad enough to live as an outlaw. No prince would submit to the dangers of nature. He will not have learned."  
  
Bakura opened his eyes and glanced over at the speakers. He had correctly pinpointed the priest and priestess - he recognized them now - but he still had no idea who the third was, though he wore the robe of a priest. "Head hurts," he said experimentally. Yes, he could still talk.  
  
"Set protect us," the priestess cried. "He awakens."  
  
"No kidding," Bakura snapped. Maybe now was the time to play the "brother of a god" card. "I demand in the name of Ra that you take me to my brother at once."  
  
"And have you kill him?" the priest of Osiris scoffed. "You will not be seeing the God-King Teremun. The fallen must not enter the presence of the gods."  
  
"Damn," Bakura said. "I pity you, though. Drowning may be a horrible death, but at least it's better than what fate has in store for you. You, priestess, will be hunted down by the...the...the Frenzied Panda of Set. And the priest of Osiris shall be crushed by the heels of the Tormentor." He was just making things up now, but rather enjoying himself.  
  
"And I?" the other priest asked, smirking. "I see you know me not. I am the Elite Priest of Ra, second only to my cousin, Seto."  
  
"Oh." Bakura thought about that. "So it was your uncle I killed, then? Wow, you must hate me. But never fear - your death will be quite painless. The Destiny Board of Doom will destroy you. No worries, though - it doesn't hurt."  
  
"Speak not of things you don't understand," the Elite Priest warned. "I know of what you speak - the Shadow Creatures. And I can tell you that they will not harm me. I control them, as does my cousin - and your brother. The darkness will consume you."  
  
Bakura smiled, and tried to ignore the stabbing pains in his head. "Why, dear priest, don't you know? The darkness cannot consume me...for I /am/ the darkness..."  
  
**My God, my tourniquet  
  
Return to me salvation  
  
My God, my tourniquet  
  
Return to me salvation**  
  
Several of the guards in the throne room worked for the rebellion, and almost immediately saw the danger that Khepri did not.  
  
They followed the five handmaidens when the girls made off for their dormitory. It was Khepri who noticed their presence; she stopped the other girls, bemused.  
  
It was the work of a few minutes. There were seven guards, four targets, and when it was over, nothing remained but four lifeless bodies and a rarely-used hallway splashed with blood.  
  
"Why?" Khepri whispered. "My friends..."  
  
"You can't spread lies about the pharaoh," one of the guards told her harshly. "They are too easily proved wrong. The truth is our weapon. If their story had gotten out, who knows what might have happened?"  
  
"Gossip is dangerous," another guard informed the surviving handmaiden. "Have you learned nothing? We must take up our posts. Find some rebels to get rid of the evidence."  
  
They returned to the throne room, leaving Khepri to mourn for her four lost friends.  
  
* * *  
  
After several agonizing seconds, Yugi coughed and took a hitching breath.  
  
"Hurts," he gasped.  
  
Mokuba dropped his hand and closed his eyes. He had a headache now, and felt like he was about to faint - something he'd only done once before, and didn't want to do again. "It worked, then?"  
  
"He's still lost a lot of blood," Kaiba observed.  
  
"He needs rest," Yami said. He gently lifted his hikari, who didn't protest. "Whose room is nearest?"  
  
"Ours," Kaiba said. "That's all right, he can use my bed. I mean, until I need to use it."  
  
Yami gazed at Kaiba, who stared right back. "You know," the pharaoh finally remarked, "you're not so bad after all, are you?"  
  
"I'll have you know that I am a cold and heartless millionaire," Kaiba said.  
  
Yami smiled knowingly. "Sure. Now, then. Lead the way."  
  
Mokuba shuffled along behind them, purple lights playing in front of his eyes. No one had mentioned that healing hurt the healer. He felt drained, and cold...  
  
"I'm not going to faint," he whispered, and almost immediately did.  
  
**My wounds cry for the grave  
  
My soul cries for deliverance  
  
Will I be denied Christ?  
  
Tourniquet  
  
My suicide  
  
Return to me salvation  
  
Return to me salvation**  
  
~~  
  
A/N: See? It all worked out. 'Kura saved Yugi...but at what cost to himself? And /what/ is going on with Joey? And, and, and...well. The plot thickens, eh? More murder...more people /plotting/ murder...ooh. Exciting.  
  
The Hom-Dai is shamelessly stolen from "The Mummy." Remember when Bakura watched that in "Let Go"? Hooray for backstory continuity!  
  
Oh, and in case the thing with Bakura was confusing: some priests snuck up behind him and hit him over the head, then dragged him off to a room somewhere to discuss what to do with him. Joey did not notice because, well, he had other things to think about.  
  
Next Chapter: My Immortal. Poem summary, because y'all liked the last one. The conspiracy deepens, the sky's growing dark / The spell and its consequences have left a mark / The Shadow Game's problems are masking the signs / Of friendships now broken and love left behind / Bakura's in danger and Ryou is too / Yami and Malik don't know what to do / Demons on the prowl give Rana a fright / Egypt's quite different after midnight. 


	9. My Immortal

Chapter Eight: My Immortal  
  
It was only when the guards had managed to tie his wrists together that Ryou thought to wonder what they were planning to do to him.  
  
"So, where are we going?" he asked. "The catacombs, right?"  
  
The guards ignored him as they dragged him through deserted corridors. "He wants us to behead the kid, right?" one asked.  
  
"No," the other man laughed. "Of course not! We're supposed to lock him up. Weren't you listening?"  
  
"Lock...oh! Ha! That will be fun."  
  
They paused at a store room and found a strip of cloth, which they used to gag Ryou. He didn't try to fight it; he was quite convinced that his yami wouldn't let him die.  
  
Except...Yugi...  
  
But believing that Yugi was dead would be awful, and Ryou wouldn't do it. Yami would save Yugi, and Bakura would save Ryou, and then they'd find a way to get home. Together.  
  
* * *  
  
Bakura couldn't fight back when the priests finally decided to throw him in the Nile. His head spun as soon as he tried to stand, and he nearly fainted from the pain.  
  
~It's okay,~ he told himself. ~I've got a fairly good idea of what swimming entails. I won't drown.~  
  
Never mind that he had never actually /tried/ to swim before. Never mind that the last time he'd been in a river, Mai, who had been injured, had been forced to drag him onto the bank. And never mind that these were not /stupid/ priests, and quite probably they would think to tie his hands together, at least.  
  
He didn't bother to formulate an escape plan; he was quite positive that he couldn't run in his condition. He simply followed the priestess of Set, and tried not to annoy either of the priests, who had hold of his arms.  
  
"I don't suppose," he said, when he noticed that they were getting alarmingly close to a door that led outside, "that you would consider being bribed?"  
  
"Tempt us not!" the priestess cried.  
  
"Gah, what's the use of a priesthood if you're not corrupt?"  
  
"And what use," the Elite Priest said in the tone of one who is very amused and endeavoring not to show it, "is the second son of a pharaoh?"  
  
"I'll have you know that I /could/ be the first son," Bakura said haughtily. "Not like anyone knows for sure."  
  
"Oh," the priestess said suddenly. "We're going to tie him up, right?"  
  
"Yes," the Elite Priest replied. "There should be a store room around here somewhere."  
  
While the three priests engaged in opening random doors in search of rope, Bakura leaned against the wall. He felt rather dizzy, and also noticed something distressing.  
  
For the short time he'd known Ryou, he had always /felt/ the presence of his other half, like a steady light in the back of his head. In time, he grew to no longer notice it.  
  
But now - now he could feel it flickering, like a candle-flame blown by the wind. And when he concentrated - not an easy feat, with the pain in his head and other external factors - he could feel a growing sense of panic from his hikari.  
  
He felt somehow certain that Ryou wasn't aware of that fear. Not now. Not yet.  
  
But something was very much wrong.  
  
And, in spite of the fact that Bakura himself was about ten minutes away from sinking to the bottom of the Nile, he was desperately afraid for Ryou's well-being, not his own.  
  
He barely felt the priests bind his hands behind his back, barely heard their discussion of whether or not they should take the time to tie him to a big rock, just as an extra precaution.  
  
~Ryou,~ he thought tentatively, wondering if his other half could hear him. ~Don't worry. It's all right.~  
  
But he knew that it wasn't.  
  
~~  
  
Once they found the right room in the catacombs, the guards moved rapidly. It took both of them, their eyes on Ryou just in case he attempted to escape, to shove the lid off of a stone coffin.  
  
Lock him up.  
  
"That?" Ryou asked incredulously.  
  
"Yes," one of them grunted. "Okay, that's a large enough opening. Just shove him in. We've got other things to do."  
  
Ryou felt the panic that, unbeknownst to him, his yami had already noticed. "No," he wailed. "That's awful, why don't you just drown me?"  
  
They laughed, and wrestled him into the coffin. "Good-bye, traitor," one called, as they shoved the lid back on.  
  
Ryou felt a stinging pain in his wrist, and concentrated on that to quell his terror. After much debate, he concluded that he had landed on the watch, and the glass on the face had shattered and cut into his skin.  
  
He tried to kick the top off of the coffin, and when that didn't work, went back to the problem of the broken watch. There was a large shard of glass sticking out of his arm; he could feel it.  
  
~Ryou?~  
  
Soft voice, quiet, but familiar.  
  
"'Kura!" he yelped.  
  
~Don't be afraid, Ryou...s'all right...~  
  
Just the knowledge that somehow, his yami was there, gave him the courage he needed. It hurt, and he was convinced that he heard something snap, but he managed to rotate his wrists far enough that he could grasp the bit of glass between two fingers.  
  
And he was /sure/ that something broke - and not the watch, either - when he got the glass into position and then pushed down, effectively crushing one hand into the bottom of the coffin as well as sawing into the rope that bound him.  
  
He tried not to think about the fact that, even if he got his hands free, he was far too weak to get out.  
  
**I'm so tired of being here  
  
Suppressed by all my childish fears  
  
And if you have to leave  
  
I wish that you would just leave  
  
Because your presence still lingers here  
  
And it won't leave me alone**  
  
"Funny," the priestess remarked. "I just thought that a murderer and conspirator would try to get away."  
  
"No, the bribe was my best plan," Bakura told her.  
  
The three priests had led him to a cliff overlooking the Nile. It was a very small cliff, and the water probably wasn't too deep here, but nevertheless, Bakura was not looking forward to this attempt on his life.  
  
"Are you going to push me over?" he asked innocently. "Or are we going to stand here until it gets dark?"  
  
"Good point," the priest of Osiris said, and shoved him hard.  
  
To his everlasting shame, Bakura screamed as he fell.  
  
The priests watched as the fragile shape of the outlaw prince vanished beneath the water, and did not resurface.  
  
"Well," the priestess said finally. "That's good, then."  
  
They turned to leave. None saw the golden-haired boy watching them from several yards away.  
  
**These wounds won't seem to heal  
  
This pain is just too real  
  
There's just too much that time cannot erase  
  
When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears  
  
When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears  
  
And I've held your hand through all of these years  
  
But you still have all of me**  
  
Between the moment he hit the water and the time when he found that he could breathe again, Bakura remembered only a blur.  
  
He sat up, coughing violently to rid his lungs of water.  
  
"Bastards," Malik muttered, patting his friend awkwardly on the back.  
  
"Well, they /are/ priests," Bakura managed. "You're all wet."  
  
"So are you, idiot." Malik finished untying the ropes, and Bakura raised his hands to wipe water from his eyes.  
  
"Malik, if ever you were my friend, you have to do something for me. Right now. No questions."  
  
"Of course," Malik said immediately, and Bakura felt something tug on his heart. What /happened/ to change this utter trust into raving lunacy?  
  
"I have a friend. Looks like me, except a slave. He's in danger - grave danger. Leave me here, go and find him."  
  
The Millennium Ring did not exist, but even that had not broken the bond between Bakura and Ryou. However, Bakura was quite unable to locate his hikari. He tried tapping into Ryou's thoughts, and had to pull back.  
  
darkness pain fear help me  
  
"Somewhere dark," Bakura said finally.  
  
Malik thought about that. "The catacombs?"  
  
"Try."  
  
"You'll tell me what this is about later, right?"  
  
"I might."  
  
"Sure you'll be all right?"  
  
"Yes, now go."  
  
Malik stood and ran toward the palace, leaving the half-drowned Bakura to wring out his hair and ponder again about what would go wrong.  
  
~~  
  
Ryou's hands had been unbound for several minutes before he realized that it was entirely possible he would bleed to death.  
  
"Help?" he called, banging on the lid of the coffin. "Anyone out there? Of course not."  
  
The darkness pressed in around him, and he shuddered. He wasn't claustrophobic, thankfully, but that didn't mean he /liked/ this. It was an awful way to die at the best of times.  
  
The guards had neglected to fully close the coffin; there was a gap of about two inches near his head. He reached blindly for it and tried to get the leverage to push it open farther, but couldn't.  
  
Light flared suddenly, and he yelped. "Hello?"  
  
The word was echoed back, by a voice so familiar that the physical pain vanished, replaced by emotional panic.  
  
"Malik!" Ryou cried. Oh, God, /no/. Anyone but /him/.  
  
The light grew, and, squinting through the small opening, Ryou saw flame. A torch, probably. "Are you the person who looks like Bakura?" Malik asked. "Or are you one of us being punished?"  
  
"I'm Ryou," the boy replied. "And I'm bleeding, and my hand is probably broken, and I'd really like to get out now."  
  
A pause. "You /didn't/ answer the /question/."  
  
Before Ryou could think up a suitable reply, there came a grinding noise, and the crack above his head widened. "Damn. Heavy," Malik said. It took him a minute to open the coffin enough, but eventually Ryou was able to wriggle out.  
  
"Thanks," he said dubiously. Malik /looked/ sane, but Ryou knew better.  
  
Malik stared at him. "He was right. You look just like him. Oh, you /are/ bleeding."  
  
Ryou looked down at his arms. His wrists were all cut up from the broken glass, and Sathaugula had stopped working again. He was dimly aware of a sharp pain in his left hand, and suspected a broken bone there.  
  
"I need a healer," he said. "Right away."  
  
"Hang on." Malik had set the torch in a bracket before; now he picked it up and examined the walls. After a moment, he pried a stone out and began to pull out several jars, peering into each. "We use some of these rooms for storage," he explained. "Should be some...oh, good." He pulled some bandages out, carefully replaced everything else in the hole in the wall, and then turned to Ryou. "Hold out your arms."  
  
Ryou did so, and allowed Malik to wrap the bandages around his bloody wrists, though he doubted it would do much good. "And Bakura sent you?"  
  
"Well, yes. Bloody useless git. He barely gave me anything to go on. I was looking for ages before I heard you."  
  
Malik led Ryou out of the catacombs. The white-haired boy was quite lost by this time. The Malik he remembered was insane and murderous and /evil/. Very much so, however much Isis Ishtar wanted to believe that there was some good left in him. But /this/ Malik was perfectly sane, and seemed to be Bakura's friend.  
  
Strange.  
  
Well, really, this was /Yami/ Malik, wasn't it? And maybe five thousand years of imprisonment would make him crazy.  
  
Maybe.  
  
Somehow, though, Ryou didn't believe it.  
  
**You used to captivate me  
  
By your resonating light  
  
Now I'm bound by the life you left behind  
  
Your face, it haunts my once pleasant dreams  
  
Your voice, it chased away all the sanity in me**  
  
The two were nearly at one of the doors that led outside when Malik swore and stopped walking.  
  
"What?" Ryou asked, looking up. All he saw was an Egyptian girl, her dark reddish-black hair held up with gold barrettes, moving swiftly toward them.  
  
"It's Zahara," Malik snapped. "Augh, too late, she's seen us. Look, she's a priestess of Nephthys, and absolutely insane. So just - "  
  
"Malik Ishtar," the priestess said dreamily, gliding up to them and stopping. "I thought you were still around here."  
  
"Hi, Zara," the blond boy said half-heartedly.  
  
Zahara's eyes, an odd shade of dark gold, fell on Ryou. "And who is your friend?"  
  
Ryou tried to back away, and crashed into a wall. "Just an unimportant slave," he said. This priestess was seriously creeping him out. Nephthys...wasn't she the goddess of the dead?  
  
Zahara moved past Malik and stared at Ryou. "Your eyes," she said. "They're very strange."  
  
"The word is 'dilated,'" Malik said. "She's right, you know. Your pupils are really big."  
  
Ryou shivered, though it wasn't cold at all. It must be Sathaugula, working its poison on him.  
  
Zahara leaned forward, gazing deep into his eyes. She looked thoughtful. "Your hair is silver. You look like an angel."  
  
"I'm not - "  
  
"Angel-boy," she continued obliviously, "with your sick beautiful eyes. Too pretty to go mad or blind,and die from it." Her voice was liquid silver. "But die you will. It is long past stopping, now. Tell me, angel-boy, how long has it been since you last slept? Do you feel cold, when there is only warmth around you? Does your vision begin to blur?" She laid three slender fingers under his chin and tilted his face up. "How bad is the pain, angel- boy? Does it still seem normal to you? Not for long."  
  
"How do you know?" he whispered.  
  
"You are marked by my mistress," she said. Ryou lifted his arm and stared at Sathaugula, which protruded over the top of his bandages. "I see that you have tried, perhaps, to end it. I fear that you have only made it worse."  
  
"Zara?" Malik's voice quavered. "What's happening? Is he dying?"  
  
The priestess scrutinized Ryou's face a moment longer, then stepped back. "He is," she said. "I cannot interfere."  
  
"Oh. Bakura's not going to like that."  
  
Ryou realized that he was trembling, and then noticed that the blood was already soaking through his bandages. "I still need a healer."  
  
"Oh, right. Excuse us, Zahara." Malik grabbed hold of Ryou's elbow and half- dragged the smaller boy away from the priestess, who watched them go with unreadable eyes. "Completely mad. Don't listen to her."  
  
But Ryou was lost in thought.  
  
~'Kura,~ he thought, wondering if his yami could hear him. ~I know you wouldn't have wanted this, but it's still your fault. Why would you need time-travel in the first place? I'm sorry it has to end this way.~  
  
There was silence, just for a moment, then a quiet reply. Ryou wasn't even sure he actually heard it.  
  
~Ryou-chan...you know I would die for you, if I could.~  
  
~But you can't.~  
  
* * *  
  
When they found Bakura, he was lying on his back, staring up at the sky. It was late afternoon, and the dying sunlight touched his silvery hair with golden highlights, and made his eyes seem like dark pits.  
  
"You're dying," he said, as soon as Ryou was within earshot.  
  
Ryou nodded, and sat down beside his yami. "It's the demon watch. It's killing me, because I used it."  
  
Malik sensed that this was an intensely private moment, and headed back for the castle, though he watched the two for as long as he could see them - so similar, so different. The one, a prince, a fallen angel; the other a slave, life slowly bleeding from him.  
  
"Bakura," Ryou said finally. "There must be a way to - "  
  
"To stop this?" Bakura asked. "There isn't. I'm sorry."  
  
"You're just going to give up?"  
  
"Ryou, be realistic. What do you think /I/ can do about it?"  
  
"Talk to your demon friend, strike a bargain - "  
  
"I haven't paid for the last bargain I made." Bakura sighed. "Be glad you are dying. Perhaps you will escape from this torment. Do you realize that I'm immortal now? I'm completely doomed. I have to go through the same five thousand year cycle, over and over again, for all eternity - because of that watch."  
  
"Better to live forever with no memories of the past than to die at seventeen," Ryou snapped.  
  
"You're sixteen. And it's better to die than to be kept awake night after night, dreaming - "  
  
"I don't care!" Ryou cried, despair lending his mild voice an edge that made his yami sit up and stare at him in shock. "I'm already kept awake! My hand is broken and the bleeding won't /stop/ and it /hurts/ and I don't want to die yet!"  
  
Bakura finally noticed the bandages. "Oh. What happened?"  
  
Ryou wordlessly showed his yami the shattered face of the watch.  
  
"Well, come on. Let's go find Mokuba."  
  
**These wounds won't seem to heal  
  
This pain is just too real  
  
There's just too much that time cannot erase  
  
When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears  
  
When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears  
  
And I've held your hand through all of these years  
  
But you still have all of me**  
  
Malik strode along the corridors in the catacombs. He was very unhappy.  
  
Damn, he hadn't meant for Zahara to see him. She wouldn't /tell/ anyone, of course, but she would probably continue to seek him out. She was completely /mad/, without a doubt.  
  
But not so mad as Shizu.  
  
Speaking of Shizu...  
  
The blonde Egyptian stepped out of a room to block his pathway. "Malik Ishtar," she purred. "Just the boy I was looking for. Come in, come in. I have a proposition for you..."  
  
Probably she was going to try to kill him again.  
  
But what choice did he have? She was one of the leaders of the rebellion, and to disobey her meant death /anyway/...  
  
He followed.  
  
* * *  
  
When they finally found Kaiba's room, Bakura was nearly murdered by the dark-haired boy just for suggesting that Mokuba heal Ryou.  
  
"He fainted last time!" Kaiba yelled. "He still hasn't recovered."  
  
"Seto," Mokuba whined, trying to push past his brother, who was blocking the doorway. "Ryou needs help."  
  
"There are /other/ healer-mages around!"  
  
"Besides," Bakura added helpfully, "Yugi was dead. Ryou's not. Ever think that /that/ had something to do with it?"  
  
"Good point," Mokuba said, ducking into the hallway before Kaiba could stop him. "C'mere, Ryou."  
  
It was the work of a minute to stop the bleeding and repair the broken bone in Ryou's hand. Meanwhile, Kaiba glared at Bakura.  
  
"How did you know Yugi was dead?" he demanded. "You haven't been around here since it happened."  
  
"I...er...read it on the Internet?"  
  
"You," Kaiba said decisively, "are a dangerous, lying, evil little demon person."  
  
Bakura grinned brightly. "I know."  
  
Yami appeared behind Kaiba, looking exhausted and disheveled. "Hey, tomb robber," he said quietly. "We have to talk."  
  
**I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone  
  
But though you're still with me  
  
I've been alone all along  
  
When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears  
  
When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears  
  
And I've held your hand through all of these years  
  
But you still have all of me**  
  
It was midnight, and the castle was silent.  
  
Rana padded softly through the catacombs, checking up on those she had come to think of as /her/ humans.  
  
The Girl was up late, practicing moves with a sword. Rana knew from experience that Those Sharp Things really hurt, and chose not to enter the room. Strangely, The Master, who was generally with The Girl, wasn't here.  
  
Well, then, he would be with The Boy.  
  
Malik Ishtar, however, was quite alone when the cat found him. He was leaning against the wall as if it was all that held him up, and had a hopeless, lost look in his eyes.  
  
"Rana," he said, holding his arms out. The cat leapt into them, and he cuddled her. "Oh, Rana. I don't know what to do. I don't /want/ to betray Akil - but I don't have any choice, do I?"  
  
Rana's luminous eyes glowed, and she snapped her head around to stare into the corridor. They were /back/.  
  
Malik couldn't sense them, though. He tilted his head back, banged it half- heartedly against the stone wall.  
  
"It was supposed to be so easy," he said, apropos of apparently nothing.  
  
Rana hissed and dug her claws into his arm. She didn't understand this complaining from The Boy. Far more dangerous was the fact that /they/ were back. The minions of Nephthys. The demons.  
  
But why?  
  
~~  
  
A/N: Well, wasn't that nice? Please note that thus far, this story is already about as long as "Let Go" was...and we're not even close to the ending. Not by any means. Seven chapters remain.  
  
Oh, by the way: Zahara is /not/ an OC. She is a character from the show whose name I have changed just for fun. Guess who she is, win absolutely nothing.  
  
This chapter was /so hard/ to write. /So/ hard. I had writer's block. I still think this chapter was awful. Perhaps someday I will rewrite it. And the next chapter will probably take awhile because my friends are going to kill me if I don't work on my original story. Next Chapter: Bring Me To Life. Can best be summarized by this: "Angst angst angst." But if you really want to know specifics...Ryou is still dying, we find out what Shizu wants from Malik, there are disturbing rumors from Upper Egypt, everyone hates or at least distrusts Bakura, and there is no snogging whatsoever. *forlorn* Where art thou gone, good days of romantic fluff? 


	10. Bring Me To Life

Chapter Nine: Bring Me To Life  
  
**How can you see into my eyes like open doors?  
  
Leading you down into my core  
  
Where I've become so numb without a soul  
  
My spirit sleeping somewhere cold  
  
Until you find it there and lead it back home**  
  
Yugi felt quite recovered within a few hours, but his yami wouldn't hear of his getting up until the next day. Thus he lay, extremely bored, in Kaiba's bed, and couldn't help overhearing the hushed conversation Yami had with Bakura in the corner of the room.  
  
"You know," Yugi said gently when Bakura had left, "just 'cause I died doesn't mean I've gone deaf. Is it true?"  
  
"About Ryou?" Yami asked cagily. "Well, yes. Terrible thing to happen, but I'm sure we can come up with something - "  
  
Yugi sighed. "You know what I mean."  
  
"Oh, /that/. Yes. Well. It has to happen sooner or later, doesn't it?"  
  
"I guess. It's just - so awful." Yugi shuddered and turned his mind to other problems. "I have to see Joey, we have to talk."  
  
"I don't know where he is," Yami pointed out. "And I don't want to leave - "  
  
"I'm fine now, Yami. I just - I want to talk to Joey. Is that too much to ask?"  
  
Yami sighed and went to the door. "Kaiba, would you find Joey for us, please?"  
  
Yugi heard Kaiba mutter something about not being a slave, but because Yami said nothing else, he figured that Kaiba had gone in search of the blond.  
  
* * *  
  
Kaiba found Mai first. She was glaring pointedly at the floor, and raised her head when she heard the High Priest approaching. "Kaiba. Hi. Yugi - ?"  
  
"He's fine," Kaiba snapped. He wasn't in a very good mood. He hated being ordered around by anyone, especially that spirit.  
  
"That doesn't make sense," Mai told him. "The spell - "  
  
"It is a very long story and I don't feel like explaining anything. I just want - oh, I don't know what I want. Have you seen Joey?"  
  
Mai shrugged and refused to meet his eyes. "He was in the throne room. But, um, then he...well, he left."  
  
"Where did he go?"  
  
"Er. Away from me."  
  
Kaiba cocked an eyebrow. "Oh, really? What's going on with you two, anyway? Weren't you together?"  
  
"Months ago, yes. I, well, I hit him, and he ran off. Very upset. Why won't anyone tell me what happened to Yugi?"  
  
Kaiba sighed. "Go down the hall, take two lefts and a right, third door on the left. The pharaoh's in a bad mood, but Yugi will tell you whatever you want to know."  
  
Mai smiled and hugged him quickly, then ran off, shouting over her shoulder, "Thank you, Kaiba!" The CEO stared after her, completely bewildered.  
  
* * *  
  
Bakura found Ryou huddled up in a corner, half-asleep. "Hey," the spirit said softly, kneeling beside his other half.  
  
"I'm so tired," Ryou moaned.  
  
"I know. I was talking to the pharaoh - he thinks there must be a way to undo this."  
  
Ryou laughed bitterly. "What does Yami know? A priestess of Nephthys said - what did she say? That it's long past stopping now. I think she'd know."  
  
"Zahara?" Bakura asked without thinking. "She's crazy."  
  
"You know her?"  
  
"Apparently so." Bakura ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Ryou. Have you noticed that we're still connected, even though there is no Ring?"  
  
Ryou was not listening. "You know, I used to think it would be nice to go back in time. Turns out it can be murder."  
  
"/Ryou-chan/. You're not listening to me."  
  
"I'm sorry! I'm exhausted, I can't concentrate." Ryou moaned and pressed his hand to his forehead. "It hurts so much."  
  
Bakura sighed and awkwardly patted his hikari on the head. "It will be okay. As I was saying, I've got an idea."  
  
Ryou made a noncommittal noise.  
  
"Because it's really just your body that's being affected by Sathaugula, right? Not your mind? And yet it's your mind that's hurting you, because it's the part of you that really needs sleep."  
  
Ryou looked up, confusion and hope shining in his dark eyes. "True..."  
  
"So I was thinking. Remember how I used to take over your body all the time? No, don't answer that, we're not talking about that. I think that, since we both have bodies now, maybe we could, you know, switch. Or something. Then you could use /my/ body to sleep, and you'd feel better when we changed back."  
  
Ryou knew he shouldn't say it, but he couldn't help it. "Is there any way to make the change permanent?"  
  
"What, and let me die for you?" Bakura shook his head, apparently amused. "No. Dreadful sorry, but no. Even if it were possible - no."  
  
The prospect of sleeping made this seem far less painful than it would have been if Ryou had still been miserable. "Whatever. Let's try it."  
  
**Wake me up inside  
  
Wake me up inside  
  
Call my name and save me from the dark  
  
Bid my blood to run before I come undone  
  
Save me from the nothing I've become  
  
Now that I know what I'm without  
  
You can't just leave me  
  
Breathe into me and make me real  
  
Bring me to life**  
  
Mokuba, meanwhile, was ridiculously bored.  
  
The palace was awash with rumors. First, that the pharaoh had died, and that was why he'd suddenly disappeared. Then someone suggested that perhaps the High Priest had died, and the pharaoh was communing with his spirit. Following that, a handmaiden decided that the High Priest had been murdered, and the pharaoh was searching for the killer.  
  
Amid the conversation, Mokuba picked up on a bit of gossip that interested him. Apparently, there was some kind of plague in Upper Egypt. No one seemed clear on what this plague was, only that people were dying by the hundreds. He suspected that none of this was true.  
  
However, you never know what's truth until you see it for yourself...  
  
Thus, Mokuba decided to find out what was happening in Upper Egypt. Since there was no way Seto would let him go by himself, he delegated the mission to an acolyte who seemed eager to know what was going on.  
  
"I will return anon," the acolyte said importantly, and hurried off to prepare for the trip.  
  
The worrying thing was that it would take weeks for the acolyte to return from Upper Egypt, and Mokuba wasn't sure how much time they had left.  
  
* * *  
  
Malik woke the next morning to find his arms covered in bloody scratches.  
  
He stalked off to find Bakura and warn him that his cat was out of control and in danger of being drowned by a very irritated blond assassin.  
  
When he found his friend, he was considerably startled by the peaceful, contented look in Bakura's eyes.  
  
"Rana hates me," Malik announced.  
  
Bakura blinked. "Wait, who?"  
  
"Rana. Your cat." Malik peered closer at his friend. "Are you okay? You look different."  
  
"What? Oh, um, that." The inexplicably nervous Bakura stepped backward. "I just, you know, I've been thinking about things."  
  
"Things," Malik said flatly.  
  
Shizu sailed past them, pointedly ignoring Bakura. She did, however, pause beside the blond. "Malik, dear. Remember what I said last night?"  
  
"How could I forget?"  
  
"I need an answer, Ishtar."  
  
"Later."  
  
Shizu continued on her way, leaving the two young men to stand around acting normal - though neither of them were.  
  
When Malik finally muttered something and hurried off, Ryou sighed in relief. He'd been worried that someone would notice the switch - but apparently, he and his yami looked a lot more different than he'd thought.  
  
Or perhaps they looked exactly the same...  
  
Ryou wasn't in any mood for thinking about that. He just wanted to sleep some more.  
  
**Wake me up inside  
  
Wake me up inside  
  
Call my name and save me from the dark  
  
Bid my blood to run before I come undone  
  
Save me from the nothing I've become  
  
Bring me to life  
  
Frozen inside without your touch, without your love  
  
Darling, only you are the life among the dead**  
  
The next person Ryou ran into was Mai. She, of course, immediately knew that he wasn't really her boyfriend.  
  
"No one tells me anything," she said finally. "Where's Bakura?"  
  
Ryou shrugged. "Suffering in my body, I suppose."  
  
Mai stared at him, and walked off without speaking again.  
  
* * *  
  
Bakura, meanwhile, found an empty room and collapsed in it.  
  
Gods, he hadn't really expected it to be this awful. He had trouble walking on Ryou's weak legs, his eyes hurt from lack of sleep, and he'd accidentally run into someone and could already see dark bruises on his/Ryou's arms.  
  
"My Ryou..." he whispered. It hurt to even think of his hikari suffering like this.  
  
It hurt more to think that Ryou might die.  
  
~There must be a way out of this...~  
  
But there wasn't, was there? It would end here, in Egypt, where it had begun.  
  
~I wish I could remember what happens next.~  
  
* * *  
  
Malik caught up with Shizu somewhere in the vicinity of Kaiba's rooms. She was apparently looking for the High Priest.  
  
"I don't know how you can ask me to do this," Malik hissed. "He's my best friend. My /only/ friend. He trusts me."  
  
"That's the best part," Shizu said, raising her eyebrows. "What use is betrayal if it doesn't hurt him?"  
  
"I can't do it."  
  
"Then you'll die. Come on, Malik. He'd betray you in a heartbeat if he thought - "  
  
"He wouldn't."  
  
Shizu smiled, those dark indigo eyes cold and calculating. "I would. And he's like me."  
  
"He's not like you."  
  
"You're blind, Ishtar. By the time you wake up, it will be too late for you. Too late for us all."  
  
Malik hesitated for only an instant. "I'll do it, then. I won't like it - but I'll do it."  
  
"I knew you would."  
  
Neither of them noticed the small, dark-haired priest watching from a shadowed doorway.  
  
**All this time, I can't believe I couldn't see  
  
Kept in the dark, but you were there in front of me  
  
I've been sleeping a thousand years it seems  
  
Got to open my eyes to everything  
  
Without a thought, without a voice, without a soul  
  
Don't let me die here, there must be something more  
  
Bring me to life**  
  
As soon as Yami fell asleep, Yugi snuck out of Kaiba's room.  
  
He really did feel fine, and it wasn't helping to be shut up all the time, and that was the rational he would be giving to his other half later, when Yami inevitably figured out exactly what Yugi had been up to.  
  
Yugi found Ryou wandering aimlessly, his dark eyes happier than they'd been for awhile. After having the switching-minds thing explained to him, Yugi agreed that it was a very interesting concept, and certainly a place to start in searching for a cure.  
  
Neither of them wanted to think that there might not be a cure.  
  
Joey had never shown up, so Ryou agreed to help Yugi search for him. It took them a few hours, but they finally located the blond, sitting in a storeroom, staring determinedly at nothing.  
  
"Joey," Yugi said. The blond lifted his head, dark eyes unreadable. "I have to talk to you."  
  
"Sure," Joey said dully. "Maybe I'll try to kill you again, wouldn't that be nice? Mai hates me. You - "  
  
"I don't hate you," Yugi said firmly. "I could never hate you. You're my best friend. It was an accident. I understand. What are you afraid of?"  
  
Ryou, at this point, thoughtfully backed away and wandered off in search of something else to do.  
  
**Wake me up inside  
  
Wake me up inside  
  
Call my name and save me from the dark  
  
Bid my blood to run before I come undone  
  
Save me from the nothing I've become  
  
Bring me to life  
  
Bring me to life**  
  
~~  
  
A/N: *moans* There is simply no excuse for the lateness (or shortness) of this chapter. However, I will give you a few: I've had the flu for three weeks, missed three tests that I had to retake, written five chapters of my original fic, and oh! the Writer's Block has struck again.  
  
Sorry if this was incoherent. I wrote it in a single night when I realized that I hadn't updated in ages. However, hurrah for Bakura/Ryou friendshippy goodness.  
  
Anyhow I was rereading Let Go, and I found this line in chapter eight, which is Ryou's POV. "I don't have magic powers. I can't turn back time." Whoa! Foreshadowing from before I knew there would be a sequel! o.O  
  
Next Chapter: Taking Over Me. The Great Snogging Chapter. Mai teaches Bakura to swim, Shizu seduces Joey, and there is very little plot, but all the frantic shippers finally get what they want.  
  
By the way, Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy New Year, and whatever else you may celebrate, enjoy it. You're all excellent. Hugs and snugs. 


	11. Taking Over Me

Chapter Ten: Taking Over Me  
  
**You don't remember me  
  
But I remember you  
  
I lie awake and try so hard not to think of you  
  
But who can decide what they dream?  
  
And dream I do**  
  
Mai couldn't stop thinking about Bakura.  
  
She supposed it was normal - he was, after all, her boyfriend - but she got a bit muddled when she tried to discover why she missed him so much. After all, it wasn't like they'd been avoiding each other - and it had only been a few days - and -  
  
She had to find him.  
  
It was some time after midnight when the blonde slipped out of the palace, not sure where to find him. It turned out that she didn't have far to look, because he was leaning against the wall, staring up at the sky.  
  
"The stars are dim," he said idly before turning his head to look at her. "I remember that. It was in the dreams."  
  
"'Kura - "  
  
"Don't say anything." He pushed himself away from the wall and reached out to touch her face. "You don't have to."  
  
"I do - the spell - "  
  
"Forget it."  
  
"It's gone."  
  
"I know."  
  
She should have asked how he knew; he might have told her, then, about Sathaugula, and a great deal might have changed. Amarna might not have burned. Joey might not have found the Scales.  
  
The pharaoh might have failed.  
  
So perhaps it was a good thing she didn't think to ask.  
  
Any possibility of her asking was drowned when he twined his fingers in her hair, pulled her close, and kissed her.  
  
* * *  
  
Mokuba found his brother in the throne room, attempting to sleep standing up. This is not a good idea in any circumstances, but somehow Kaiba managed it.  
  
"Seto," Mokuba whispered, reaching out to tug on his brother's sleeve. "Seto, I have to ask you something."  
  
Kaiba blinked a few times and stood up, swaying slightly. "Muh?" He shook his head. "Oh, Mokuba. What?"  
  
Blue-white sparks danced from Mokuba's hands, working far more effectively than coffee or sugar to allay Kaiba's exhaustion. "I heard something," Mokuba said softly, barely noticing the healing that flowed from him so effortlessly. "I just wanted to ask if it's right to tell people something you heard from eavesdropping."  
  
"That depends. Was it something that could get someone hurt?"  
  
"Maybe. I don't know."  
  
Kaiba sighed. "You'd better tell me everything."  
  
**I believe in you  
  
I'll give up everything just to find you  
  
I have to be with you to live, to breathe  
  
You're taking over me**  
  
Shizu had decided that, with Bakura acting so weird, she wouldn't tell him anything else about the rebellion. After all, if everything went according to plan, he'd have the throne, just like he wanted.  
  
Just like /she/ wanted.  
  
A great deal of the plan involved keeping Bakura in the dark, actually. For that, she needed a bit of outside help. Help she could trust.  
  
It wasn't difficult to borrow a handmaiden's outfit from one of the rebels, and it wasn't difficult to find out that the blond guard who had reacted so splendidly to her interrogation was called Joey.  
  
No one could tell her the history between the two - Joey and Yugi. In fact, no one seemed to remember anything about them before they came to the palace, which seemed to be only a few days before...  
  
A bit more detective work enabled her to locate the boy, who was half- heartedly practicing with a staff outside. The moon glittered on an untouched land, silver sand stretching away to the river and beyond.  
  
"Joey," Shizu whispered.  
  
He dropped the staff and spun around. "Mai? What are you - "  
  
"Shh," she said, and crossed the short distance between them. "Joey, I'm so sorry. I've been neglecting you lately - "  
  
"No more," he cried, backing away. "Why are you always playing with my feelings like this? It's over, okay? I accepted that. Don't make me love you again..."  
  
She pouted prettily. "But I do love you...and I'm sorry, really, I am..."  
  
"No...please, Mai, I don't want to go through this again..."  
  
The misery and pain in his eyes made Shizu hesitate, but only for a moment. He was a guard, she was a noble. It was her right to hurt him like this.  
  
All for the good of Egypt.  
  
Right?  
  
* * *  
  
Mai lost all track of time while she was kissing Bakura, but assumed it must have been eternity before he pulled away.  
  
Eternity wasn't nearly long enough.  
  
"God, I missed you," she whispered. "Never leave me, okay?"  
  
He looked surprised. "Of course not."  
  
She heard indistinct voices, but whoever else might have been around didn't matter. She had the only person who mattered. "So, what's up?"  
  
"Erm...my other half is dying, I'm allergic to my sword but I don't dare get rid of it because I suspect my ex-girlfriend wants to kill me, and - oh yes! The priests tried to drown me."  
  
"Poor darling," Mai said. "You never learned, did you?"  
  
"No..." He sighed. "You'd think that I would, wouldn't you? But I haven't."  
  
"I'll teach you."  
  
"What, now?"  
  
She gestured to the deserted landscape. "Why not now?" She grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the river. "Come on, 'Kura. Let's take a moonlit swim. It's romantic."  
  
"You girls and your romantic notions," Bakura muttered, allowing himself to be led toward the dark waters of the Nile. "If you drown me, I'll never forgive you."  
  
**Have you forgotten all I know  
  
And all we had?  
  
You saw me mourning my love for you  
  
And touched my hand  
  
I knew you loved me then**  
  
Joey didn't want to love Mai. Not anymore.  
  
Even while she was kissing him, even while he let her do it, he tried desperately to make himself believe that he didn't love her, that nothing was happening, that...but it was so nice. And he did love her, Tea or no Tea.  
  
"I thought," he said when she pulled away to breathe, "that you were mad at me."  
  
"How can I be mad at you? I love you." That had to be the third time she'd said that, like she was trying to make him believe it.  
  
"I thought you loved Bakura."  
  
She stared determinedly at the wall for a moment before managing, "Not anymore, I can assure you of that."  
  
* * *  
  
Ryou and Yugi found themselves once again on night duty. They stuck together, and Yugi conscientiously did most of Ryou's work for him.  
  
"We're going to fix this," he said for what had to be the tenth time.  
  
"I know," Ryou murmured, his voice rasping. It had begun going hoarse around sunset, and he wasn't at all happy about it. "You don't have to say it."  
  
Yugi nodded and shot a concerned look at his friend. The dreamy pain was back in Ryou's eyes; the sleep he'd been able to get had already worn off. "How long do we have?"  
  
"Dunno."  
  
A thought suddenly occurred to Yugi, and he nearly dropped the tray he was carrying. "Ryou, how can you and Bakura switch bodies without the Ring?"  
  
"Ask him." Ryou coughed. "He didn't say."  
  
"You /can't/. Therefore, the Ring must exist."  
  
"I thought Yami hadn't made those yet?"  
  
"So did I. Come on, let's go ask him."  
  
"Yugi, we have jobs to do."  
  
"This is more important, Ryou. This is the fate of the world."  
  
Ryou stumbled after his overeager friend. "Why is /everything/ we do about the fate of the world?"  
  
**I believe in you  
  
I'll give up everything just to find you  
  
I have to be with you to live, to breathe  
  
You're taking over me**  
  
It is a well-known fact that the desert is cold at night. Bakura had not fully grasped this idea until he plunged into the ice-cold Nile at midnight.  
  
"I c-c-can't swim, I c-c-can't even m-m-move," he whimpered.  
  
Mai laughed, though she was shivering too. "You'd better get used to it fast, because we're still standing, and in a minute I'm so going to drag you in further, whether you're ready or not."  
  
"D-d-don't, Mai!"  
  
Smirking, Mai grabbed his arm and attempted to make good on her threat. It didn't work very well. "Oh, come on, it's only water."  
  
"Tell that to the c-c-crocodiles."  
  
"What? There are /crocodiles/?"  
  
Bakura looked shifty. "So I hear..."  
  
"You're lying."  
  
"How can you tell?"  
  
Bakura sighed heavily. "Only because I love you," he warned her, and made a spirited attempt to swim further in by hitting the water. "Augh! This is not fun, Mai!"  
  
"Just kick back and forth, it's called treading, you'll see. It works."  
  
After several futile tries, Bakura discovered the secret to treading: cling to Mai and pretend valiantly that he wasn't completely relying on her to keep him from drowning.  
  
"Someday," Mai told him gently, "you will indeed learn how to do this properly. But I'm guessing, not now."  
  
"Agreed."  
  
"Okay. As long as that's settled, let's have some fun..."  
  
The devious grin tipped him off, but Bakura couldn't even begin to get away when she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist and kissed him.  
  
Quite naturally, this caused them to go under.  
  
* * *  
  
Naturally, when Ryou and Yugi found Yami, the pharaoh was enraged.  
  
"I told you to get some rest!" he shouted at his other half. Yugi quailed under the verbal assault and hid behind Ryou.  
  
"I'm sorry! But I'm okay! Really!"  
  
Yami relaxed a bit. "Fine. Now, then, aren't you two supposed to be working? How can the kingdom function if no one does their jobs?"  
  
"We had to ask you," Ryou stammered. "We had to know - about the Millennium Items."  
  
Yami frowned. "What about them?"  
  
"Have they been made yet?"  
  
"I don't think so." The frown deepened, and Yami's eyes were distant as he tried to think. "I can't remember what happened before we arrived here from the future. Maybe - but I really don't think so. Why?"  
  
Yugi took over. "Ryou thinks that the Ring, at least, exists in this time. And anyway - you're going to have to make them sooner or later, right?"  
  
"Yes." Yami looked around. "Let's find someone to ask."  
  
"It's really late, who's going to be up at this time?"  
  
Ryou laughed, and even though it turned into a cough halfway through, there was still a sparkle of mirth in his eyes. "The people waiting for their orders, perhaps?"  
  
Yugi blushed. "Oh. Right."  
  
**I look in the mirror and see your face  
  
If I look deep enough  
  
So many things inside  
  
That are just like you, are taking over  
  
I believe in you  
  
I'll give up everything just to find you  
  
I have to be with you to live, to breathe  
  
You're taking over me**  
  
When Mai and Bakura emerged from the river, they were both shaking with cold. Bakura half-heartedly hit Mai on the arm.  
  
"We could have /died/."  
  
She shrugged. "At least we would have died together."  
  
"Yes, that's really a consolation, there." He brushed a strand of dripping hair out of her eyes. "I love you."  
  
"I love you," she whispered, and they might have kissed if it hadn't been for the fact that he chose that moment to sit down on the sand, clutching at his temples.  
  
"Oh, /ow/..."  
  
"Visions?" she asked, kneeling beside him.  
  
"You got it." He blinked, and glanced around wildly, and then tried to stand up, but fell over backwards.  
  
"Now what?"  
  
"Dizzy," he moaned. "But - oh, God. You remember the fire I saw?"  
  
"Yes..."  
  
"I know what's going to burn. We've got to warn someone - "  
  
He tried again to stand, and collapsed again, mainly because of Mai's tugging on his arm. "You're going to faint again. Rest a minute. What's going to burn?"  
  
"The City of the Sun. Amarna."  
  
**I believe in you  
  
I'll give up everything just to find you  
  
I have to be with you to live, to breathe  
  
You're taking over me  
  
You're taking over me  
  
Taking over me**  
  
~~  
  
A/N: Got a few comments that the Joey/Shizu stuff is Not Fun. Or something to that effect. Thought I'd inform you that I agree wholeheartedly, but it is Very Important to the plot of the sequel. No fear; I can assure you that they won't /really/ hook up. Ever. Promise.  
  
Once again, many many apologies for the incredible lapse of time it took to get this out. Been working on my original novel, and when I was writing today I remembered that poor "Fallen" was just waiting for me to finish, so...yes. Also, there was a bit more plot in this chapter than intended.  
  
Just a note: Amarna is an actual city. I have no idea if it actually burned down or not. The nickname "City of the Sun" is my own invention, because the pharaoh Akhenaten, who introduced a new form of sun-worship, built it.  
  
Next Chapter: Consume All My Darkness. Before the summary, quick thing. There is not actually a "song" for the next chapter. Just a bunch of short quotes from several songs and poems. Anyway. At last, the rebellion breaks out. Mass panic, lots of unimportant people die, the city of Amarna burns, and there is little or no kissing. It was too good to last... 


	12. Consume All My Darkness

Chapter Eleven: Consume All My Darkness  
  
Malik knew perfectly well that the only reason he was alive was because of Bakura.  
  
Malik Ishtar had been born into a lowly family. He grew up knowing that his lot in life was to be a peasant farmer, or to be sold into slavery. There weren't a lot of options for commoners.  
  
He met Prince Akil when they were six. The prince was in Amarna, Malik's hometown, looking to make mischief. Instead, he found Malik.  
  
The penalty for stealing was beheading, and the shopkeeper was only too glad to carry out the punishment - until the white-haired prince stepped in front of the accused blond.  
  
"I don't like that," the prince said softly. "I don't like that you would kill a kid."  
  
"I'll kill you, too," the shopkeeper snarled. Malik cringed, expecting blood to flow.  
  
"Can't kill a god," the prince murmured. "And I am, you know. A god. I might be pharaoh someday."  
  
The shopkeeper didn't believe him, and the two boys ran away, escaping into the crowd. They finally collapsed in an alley, laughing.  
  
"You aren't really a god, of course," Malik said finally.  
  
"Oh, I am," the boy assured him. "My name is Akil. My father is the pharaoh. Have you ever killed anyone?"  
  
"Of course not!"  
  
"My father says that the peasants are vicious murderers, only kept in check by our divine will. You don't look like a killer to me, though."  
  
Such a strange friendship. Malik left his family in Amarna - his parents, his sister - and went back with Akil to the palace, further north. He was to become a priest, and train there, but the young prince convinced him to join in on all the fun of stealing.  
  
Malik Ishtar stood on the banks of the Nile, and remembered a six-year-old prince who would save the life of a commoner because it was wrong to kill a child.  
  
But Akil - no, it was Bakura now, wasn't it - had changed. Who knew if he would still save Malik's life?  
  
Strike first, before he strikes you...  
  
"I'm sorry," Malik whispered, to the desert, the river, the world in general. "I'm so sorry, 'Kura."  
  
Perhaps he should have taken that warning - that he was already sorry for something he hadn't yet done.  
  
Malik stared at the sky, still dark this early in the morning. If he couldn't believe in Bakura, then what /could/ he believe in?  
  
Search me, try me, consume all my darkness  
  
Yami, Yugi, and Ryou left the room of a random priest with wide eyes and the priest's final admonition for the pharaoh to go see a healer, since his memory was defective.  
  
"We have to find them," Yugi said finally. "Before anyone else does. What did he say - they're in the cellar somewhere?"  
  
Ryou blinked. "That's where the rebels are, isn't it?"  
  
"Great," Yami muttered. "Just great. At least I need not worry about making the damn things, right?"  
  
Kaiba and Mokuba emerged from the shadows. The former was as unreadable as ever; the latter looked tired and afraid.  
  
"You do realize what comes next?" Kaiba drawled.  
  
"No," Yami said cautiously.  
  
"Remember the stone tablet Isis showed us? Those events haven't occurred yet."  
  
It took a moment for this to sink in. Then Yami said numbly, "I have to duel you."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Soon."  
  
"Almost immediately, I think."  
  
There was another moment of silence, broken by Ryou's coughing. Everyone else glanced over at him. He tried to smile, and failed.  
  
"Well," Yami said finally. "Let's duel, then."  
  
"The Millennium items," Yugi started.  
  
"You and Ryou can go and find them, all right? We have to find a stonemason to witness the duel, so it can be immortalized." Yami sighed. "This whole time-travel business is more trouble than it's worth."  
  
Yugi dragged Ryou off, while the other three headed for the throne room.  
  
"You know, I've never dueled like this before," Kaiba said eventually. "Without cards, or dice, or something like that."  
  
"Me neither. Not that I can remember, anyway."  
  
"So we're both evenly inexperienced?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
Kaiba smiled thinly. "You won't be King of Games after this duel, Pharaoh, I guarantee it."  
  
When Mai left him, Joey staggered in a daze back into the palace. He had no idea where he was going or what he was going to do when he got there, but it no longer mattered. He just needed to be moving.  
  
So much was happening that was /wrong/. Just being here, in ancient Egypt, was /wrong/. Joey wanted to be home, in Domino City, with Tea and Tristan.  
  
There had to be a way to get back. There just /had/ to be.  
  
He continued walking, aimless, lost. Home. He had to concentrate on getting home. Nothing else mattered - not Mai, not anything. Not until they were home and safe.  
  
"Joey!"  
  
The blond stopped, feeling completely disconnected from his body. "Yeah?" he said distantly.  
  
Mokuba ran up beside him, panting. "My brother and Yami Yugi are going to duel! Come on, let's go watch!"  
  
"Where is this duel?" Joey asked. It felt as if everything was being filtered down to him from somewhere far above. Like he was drowning, being buried alive.  
  
"I think in the catacombs. Seto said to meet them there." Joey wasn't looking at Mokuba, but he could hear the frown in the boy's voice. "Are you all right, Joey?"  
  
"Yeah, sure." Joey shook his head, trying to clear his mind. Not working. What was wrong with him? "Let's go, then."  
  
"The entrance is this way, come on..."  
  
Joey stumbled after Mokuba, unwelcome inside his own mind.  
  
And we'll say we didn't know, we didn't even try  
  
One minute there was road beneath us, the next just sky  
  
Though Bakura didn't know it at the time, he was suffering in the same way as Joey. He could hear Mai's ramblings as they trekked back to the palace, and at the same time he couldn't hear her, and had no idea what she kept going on about.  
  
He wasn't used to being alone in his head - there had always been Ryou there, before. Even here in Egypt, that sense that informed him of his hikari's feelings, thoughts, and whereabouts was always present.  
  
Now he was definitely alone.  
  
He heard only the roaring of a waterfall in his head. He halted, hands halfway raised to cover his ears. A waterfall? No, surely not. No waterfalls in Egypt...  
  
He listened.  
  
Mai paused and shot him a worried look. "Bakura? Are you - "  
  
"Oh, gods," he gasped, and started to run.  
  
She followed. "Bakura, I don't understand - "  
  
"They're coming. The Shadow Monsters - they're almost here. We have to stop them from doing it!"  
  
"Stop /who/ from doing /what/?"  
  
"Whoever's doing whatever it is they're doing!"  
  
Yami took his place on one side of the arena, feeling distinctly nervous. He'd never had any real doubts about the game before. This was...it was different.  
  
A tiny and silent crowd had followed them into the catacombs. There were a few priests, a handmaiden, a servant, and a man who claimed to be a stonemason. Yami had managed to quiz one of the priests on the way down here. There were no stone tablets yet - that came after this duel, he supposed. Right now, it would just be power, just be holograms.  
  
The magic itself wasn't hard. It mainly involved commanding the monsters to do what he wished. That was simple.  
  
What was more difficult was that suddenly, he couldn't remember what Isis had told him. He couldn't remember if he was going to win or not. He had a vague idea that this was extremely dangerous.  
  
And even though he and Kaiba were sort of friends, it almost appeared as though the CEO was regressing. The malicious smirk on his face was entirely too familiar.  
  
"Ready?" Kaiba asked.  
  
Yami nodded. "Let's duel!"  
  
Shizu's cloak swirled around her as she stalked off. As much fun as this whole thing with the guard was, she had better things to do.  
  
The time, it appeared, was right.  
  
She passed many rebels in the halls, and to each whispered the code word, which was simply, "Now."  
  
The word spread. Now. Now. Now!  
  
It came to Malik, who took up his sword rather reluctantly.  
  
It came to the chamber where the duel raged, where the handmaiden Khepri slipped away, ears ringing with the battle.  
  
It came even to Bakura, whose mind was reeling and who barely heard the informant. Mai watched him, fear in her violet eyes, and then turned to look suspiciously at the man who hurried away.  
  
Now!  
  
The guards and the priests were completely unprepared for the uprising. It would have gone very badly for Joey and Mokuba if they hadn't been far from the heart of the rebellion.  
  
I heard you sing a rebel song  
  
Sung it loud and all alone  
  
We can't afford the things you say  
  
We can't afford the warranty  
  
"I think," Mokuba announced, "that we are lost."  
  
Joey's mind was clearer now. "No kidding." He glanced around. Nothing but corridors stretching in all directions. "Catacombs. Huh. What a stupid idea."  
  
Mokuba trailed a hand along the wall until they came to the next corner. "Now what? Left or right?"  
  
"Um...left."  
  
Mokuba, who was a clever little kid and knew Joey Wheeler very well, turned right. Joey didn't seem to notice. This had nothing to do with his intelligence and everything to do with the fact that his ears suddenly weren't working.  
  
They had been passing rooms all along, usually tombs for minor nobles. Joey stopped in front of one, stared at it thoughtfully, and entered.  
  
Mokuba, who hadn't noticed Joey's disappearance, soon found himself alone, and still lost.  
  
Yugi and Ryou had decided to go after the Millennium Ring, which could then point them to the other Items. Ryou could feel the Ring's presence in his head - whenever he could concentrate on anything, anyway. He had a headache which seemed to be growing exponentially.  
  
At least, he assumed that exponentially was the proper adverb. He hadn't been paying much attention in math class recently.  
  
To Ryou's surprise, the Ring wasn't in the catacombs. In fact, they finally found it hidden under the floor in Yami's bedroom.  
  
"I guess the ancient Egyptians considered that to be a terribly original hiding place," he muttered. There was already a chain attached to the Ring; Ryou slipped it over his head. Everything was as it should be.  
  
Except for Sathaugula, which was starting to burn his skin.  
  
Yugi stared at the Ring. "Are you sure it's a good idea to be wearing that thing?"  
  
"Of course. Why wouldn't it be?"  
  
"Well, the whole...demon watch thing. You know."  
  
"I can't see why that would hurt anything. Let's go find the rest of the Items. Maybe we're getting closer to being home."  
  
Being home. That was a good idea. At home, they might be able to get this stupid watch off. That seemed to be the only cure for Ryou's illness.  
  
He felt fine. It was thus a complete mystery to him why, after only two steps, he fainted.  
  
I'm not as clever as I thought I was  
  
I'm not the boy I used to be because  
  
You showed me something different  
  
You showed me something pure  
  
Mokuba had the torch. Joey realized that after he'd already shut the door behind him.  
  
It was okay, though. He didn't need to see anything in order to find the Scale. It was in his head, now, burning bright gold, and he didn't even crash into the table it was resting on.  
  
He picked the Scale up. It was unwieldy and heavy, but for some reason, it called to him.  
  
Joey had never had a Millennium Item of his own before, not really. Yugi had given him the Puzzle once, but that had been temporary, and Joey hadn't /used/ it.  
  
He knew, somehow, that he was going to use the Scales.  
  
He just didn't know how yet.  
  
The door creaked open. Light flooded in. "Joey?"  
  
"I'm here," Joey said, distantly. His mind definitely wasn't connected to his body anymore.  
  
If he'd been able to think, he might have thought that that was extremely weird.  
  
Kaiba would have lost if the duel hadn't gone so horribly wrong.  
  
The monsters weren't real. They couldn't be real. But when Yami's Dark Magician attacked him, Kaiba had fallen to his knees. He imagined that being electrocuted was something like that. And when Kaiba's Blue Eyes breathed its pale fire on the pharaoh, his screams were far too excessive.  
  
It wasn't real. It /couldn't/ be real.  
  
After the spectators and Kaiba had all been drenched by a tidal wave summoned by one of Yami's magic "cards" (they weren't playing with cards, so even in his mind Kaiba had to use quotation marks), both players decided to quit before either of them was seriously hurt.  
  
For the benefit of the stonemason, they shouted at each other for awhile.  
  
Kaiba had forgotten just how satisfying insulting the pharaoh could be.  
  
Yami declared, again for the benefit of those watching, that the monsters were dangerously close to breaking into the real world, and that he would be sealing them up in stone tablets to keep their powers away. Kaiba made a show of fuming.  
  
This whole reliving-history thing was way more trouble than it was worth.  
  
The two met up again in the throne room when everything else was over with. There was a suspicious lack of guards or handmaidens or, indeed, anyone at all.  
  
Yami sighed and flopped into his throne. "That's done, then. I'll seal them up tomorrow, you and your priests let them out tomorrow afternoon, we can have a huge fight, I'll do the thing with the Millennium Items, and we're all free to go home the night after that."  
  
"Are you sure that sequence of events is right?"  
  
"Broadly. It's the details I can't quite recall."  
  
Kaiba sat down on the dais and rested his chin in his hands. "Do we know yet /how/ to get home?"  
  
Yami shook his head ruefully. "No. But we'll figure it out. I'm more worried about what's going to happen to me, and Bakura, too."  
  
Kaiba thought about that, and suddenly got it.  
  
"If you're locked up in the Items, then how can you come back with us?"  
  
"Exactly."  
  
Kaiba didn't think much of Yugi's and Ryou's dependence on their yamis, but he wasn't sure he wanted to live in a world where the two hikaris were without their other halves.  
  
"There could be a way around it..."  
  
Yami laughed bitterly. "Right, like there was a way around the love spell?"  
  
They didn't get a chance to talk more, because just then the world exploded. Figuratively, of course.  
  
Yugi stumbled in through one door, gasping for breath. "It's Ryou!"  
  
Mai and Bakura piled in through an archway. The latter's sword was out and dripping blood. "The rebellion," he cried. "Pharaoh, you've got to hide!"  
  
Malik fell, literally, through a third door. He was weaponless, and clutched at a gaping wound in his side. "'Kura!"  
  
By then, Kaiba and Yami were on their feet, unsure of where to turn first. Aside from Yugi's babbling about Ryou, Kaiba was the first to speak.  
  
"And where, in all this chaos, is my brother?"  
  
Without the voice of reason every faith is its own curse  
  
Without freedom from the past things can only get worse.  
  
A/N: First of all, I must say where the quotes are from.  
  
"Search me, try me..." is, obviously, the source of the chapter title. It is a line from a Christian hymn.  
  
"And we'll say..." is from the Ani DiFranco song "Falling is Like This."  
  
"I heard you sing..." is from the Indigo Girls' "Become You."  
  
"I'm not as clever..." is a stanza from the song "My Funny Friend and Me" from "The Emperor's New Groove." Which is one of the best animated movies ever, by the way.  
  
"Without the voice of reason..." is by Sting, from "History Will Teach Us Nothing."  
  
That done, ohmygodiamsosorry. This took forever and ever to write and I'm sorry, so sorry, please forgive me! And if I got the facts about the duel wrong, I'm sorry for that, too. I did the best I could with online episode guides and all, because I never actually saw the episode. Anyway, it was dubbed. Never trust the American versions of anything Japanese, that's my policy. So, just in case, here's what the episode guide informed me: there were normal duels. The monsters wreaked havoc. Yami sealed them in the tablets. Kaiba and the other priests set them loose. Complete chaos. Hurrah. Sounds good to me.  
  
Anyway, notes on the chapter: That was weird, yes. I do have a plan. Really. No, really. Prepare for lots and lots of angst and not too much romance.  
  
Next Chapter: The Center Cannot Hold. The poem is "The Hollow Men" by T.S. Eliot. The Shadow Monsters break free to wreak havoc on Egypt. There are only eight to stand against the onslaught, and "certain factions" (Shizu and Malik) wish to destroy them. In other words, angst, blood, and sand. 


	13. The Center Cannot Hold

Chapter Twelve: The Center Cannot Hold  
  
Bakura dropped his sword and, in a few long strides, was at Malik's side. "Where /is/ Mokuba? We could really use him right now..."  
  
"It's only a flesh wound," Malik said, attempting to push Bakura away.  
  
"Ah, you've been watching Monty Python, I see." Ignoring his friend's confused look, Bakura pushed his hands aside and examined the wound. "You're right, it doesn't look deep, just...really painful."  
  
"No kidding. I should know. There are guards coming, we really should leave."  
  
By then, the others had clustered around them. "Ryou," Yugi said breathlessly.  
  
"Yes, of course. We'll get him and...hide. Somewhere. Anywhere. Pharaoh, haven't you got an impregnable bunker or something?"  
  
Yami shrugged. "I don't know. At any rate, do you really want to bring Malik with us? Evil traitor, yes?"  
  
"No," Bakura said coldly. "Not evil. Not a traitor. My /friend/, Pharaoh. Can you stand, Malik?"  
  
Mai gave Yami a look that plainly said, "He's gone mad, hasn't he?"  
  
With Kaiba's help, Bakura got Malik on his feet, and they all set off. "He's in Yami's bedroom," Yugi cried, and led the way.  
  
----  
  
Mokuba kept shooting glances at Joey as they made their way back toward the stairs. The blond had a faraway look in his eyes, and carried the Millennium Scale as if it weighed nothing - though it had to be heavy, if it was made of gold, as it appeared to be.  
  
"Where are we going?" he asked finally.  
  
After a moment, Joey realized that the younger boy had said something. "What? Anywhere."  
  
"I mean, where do you think Seto and the rest of them are?"  
  
"What? Somewhere."  
  
Mokuba stopped walking, watched as Joey didn't appear to notice, and ran forward. He tried to tug the Scale out of Joey's hands. "What is this thing doing to you?"  
  
Joey didn't even struggle; he just held on and stared at a point on the wall a foot above Mokuba's head. "It hasn't done anything to me. I've no idea what you're talking about."  
  
"You don't even sound like you anymore!"  
  
"You're mad, Mokuba."  
  
"Stop it!" Mokuba let go of the Scale and backed away, eyes wide. "You're scaring me, Joey. Snap out of it!"  
  
"I'm not /in/ it, Mokuba. I can't imagine what you think is wrong. I'm fine."  
  
"I'm going to get help," Mokuba decided, but before he could even take a step Joey's free hand wrapped around his wrist in a grip that could be described as iron or, perhaps, steel. "Let go of me!"  
  
"I don't think we want anyone to know of our little discovery, do we, Mokuba?"  
  
Mokuba stopped struggling and stared into Joey's blank eyes. "It's like when Malik was controlling you - with the Millennium Rod. Who's controlling you now, Joey? Who /are/ you?"  
  
Joey smiled, a bright, false smile. "I'm Joey Wheeler, Mokuba. You know that."  
  
"No...please let me go..."  
  
----  
  
Ryou was conscious by the time the others trooped into the bedroom. He had dragged himself onto the bed and was lying flat on his back, staring at the ceiling through glazed eyes.  
  
"I'm going to die," he said, and it wasn't a question or a whine or a plea for help. It was only a statement.  
  
"No, you're not," Bakura snapped as he and Kaiba eased Malik to the floor. "I am /not/ going to let you die."  
  
"You don't have a choice." Ryou coughed, a harsh, tearing sound that made Yugi wince and Mai shudder. "I don't...I mean, you heard Zahara, Malik, she said...what's Malik doing here?"  
  
"Dying," Malik said cheerfully. "How nice. We can be judged together."  
  
Kaiba looked down in distaste at the blood smeared across his robes. "We need a healer."  
  
"One who won't kill Malik and me on sight," Bakura added.  
  
Mai sighed. "Mokuba, in other words."  
  
Kaiba snapped his fingers. "That was just what I was going to say."  
  
"I'll go look for them. But I need to talk to you first, 'Kura."  
  
"Yes, darling," Bakura said, in tones of great suffering, and grinned when she rolled her eyes. "I'll be right back."  
  
They stepped into the corridor, followed by Kaiba, who headed off without looking at them.  
  
"All right," Mai said, as soon as Kaiba had rounded a corner. "What's going on?"  
  
"With what?"  
  
"You. Malik. Ryou." She planted her hands on her hips - never a good sign - and glared at him. "That evil traitor isn't dying, we both know that. Your other half /is/ and you've barely looked at him. When are you going to /do/ something about it?" Before he could answer, she went on, "And what are you doing, bringing Malik with us? He'd kill you or Yami as soon as look at you - "  
  
"He's my friend, Mai, and I'm going to save him from what he's going to become. Okay?"  
  
Mai stared at him. "You're going to change history?"  
  
Bakura laughed and waved a hand at their surroundings. "And all this - us being here, everything - doesn't change history? As long as we're at it, why not make life better for everyone? Avoid the Shadow Realm, both of us?"  
  
"You know, it wasn't so bad. I can't even remember most of it. And we're here now, together, and what if we /aren't/ together in the future because of what you're doing? For that matter, how do you know it didn't happen this way originally?"  
  
Bakura smiled, and looked down at the floor. "Because I'm sure I'd remember being here with you. I love you."  
  
Mai reached out to caress his cheek. "I know. I love you. I always will."  
  
Bakura leaned forward and kissed her, gently and chastely. Before she could wrap her arms around him as she usually did, he pulled away.  
  
"I have to go back inside, love. Can't be out here in the open with half the population out for our blood."  
  
Mai grinned. "Which half? The guards or the rebels?"  
  
He didn't answer.  
  
----  
  
Between the idea  
  
And the reality  
  
Between the motion  
  
And the act  
  
Falls the Shadow.  
  
----  
  
"Are you sure we should be here?"  
  
"We should have told the High Priest."  
  
"Be quiet!"  
  
"Where are we going?"  
  
"Stop hitting me!"  
  
"I'm not, I have no idea - "  
  
"Not you, him!"  
  
"Would you all just shut up?"  
  
"Yessir," several voices said at once, and fell silent.  
  
The Elite Priest of Ra shook his head and raised his hand, with glowed with pale light, illuminating the corridor. The catacombs were dangerous for more than one reason, and he didn't want to be found.  
  
The tunnels twisted and turned, and eventually they came upon a guard, dragging a whimpering boy along.  
  
The Elite Priest recognized the child after a moment - the High Priest's apprentice. "Halt," he commanded. "Where are you taking him?"  
  
"These cellars are dangerous," the guard said in a strange voice. "I'm taking him to safety."  
  
The boy appeared to be sizing them up, and then started shouting. "Help, help, he's gone insane, help, get the Scale from him - "  
  
The Elite Priest eyed the balance that the guard held. "That looks important," he said accusingly.  
  
"It is."  
  
"Release the boy. He will come with us."  
  
The guard let go of the boy's wrist, and the child immediately ran into the crowd of priests - eight in all. "Where are you going?"  
  
"To perform the rites that will make the separation between our land and the Shadow World complete."  
  
The boy stared up at him with wide blue-grey eyes. "Oh, no. No, you can't. You'll mess everything up - "  
  
"Please, child, cease your talking. We know what we are doing. Ra smiles on us."  
  
"So does Osiris," a priest added.  
  
"And Set."  
  
"Nephthys, too."  
  
"Thoth - "  
  
"Shut up!"  
  
"Yessir."  
  
----  
  
After a heated discussion, Bakura took the Ring from Ryou and, accompanied by Yami, set off in search of the rest of the Millennium Items.  
  
They found the Eye in a statue of Ra, and pried it out with some difficulty. Bakura wanted to keep it, since it was his in the future, but Yami took it from him and glared.  
  
They found the Millennium Necklace gracing a statue of, appropriately, the goddess Isis. Yami grabbed it before Bakura could. He did the same with the Key, which was being held by Thoth, but Bakura got to the Rod first.  
  
Yami held out a hand expectantly. "Give it to me."  
  
Bakura shook his head. "No. You've got too many as it is. This is Malik's."  
  
"You're going to give that psychopath the means to destroy us?" Yami's eyes narrowed. "What's he done to you?"  
  
"Nothing!"  
  
"You know what he's capable of, Bakura! He banished you to the Shadow Realm - and Mai, Ryou - you just /can't/ - "  
  
Bakura laughed. "That's the first time you've called me by my name, Pharaoh. And it isn't even mine."  
  
Thoughts temporarily derailed, Yami blinked. "Well, what is your name, then?"  
  
"It's Akil."  
  
Yami frowned. "That sounds familiar."  
  
"It should." Bakura shook his head. "Anyway, no. This is Malik's. Just like the Ring is mine. The Eye, too, I want it back. Let's just find your Puzzle and the Scale and not argue." He held up the Ring and watched the prongs fly up and twist to point left. He headed in that direction, and paused when Yami made no move to follow. "Pharaoh, let's go."  
  
"Give it to me." Yami's voice was low, and gave no room for argument.  
  
Bakura smirked. "No, I don't think I will."  
  
"He's got you brainwashed, Akil."  
  
"You're the good guy, Teremun," Bakura snapped. "I would think you'd know that there's some good in everyone."  
  
"Is that my name?"  
  
Bakura blinked, then backed away warily. "Yes. Let's go."  
  
"How do you know it?"  
  
"I...just do."  
  
Yami advanced on the white-haired thief. "You remembered!"  
  
"Not remembered, per se," Bakura hazarded.  
  
"You did! What else do you remember? Why don't I remember anything? What have you done, sold your soul to Malik for memories you don't need?"  
  
"No! I haven't sold my soul!"  
  
/Just my hikari's life./  
  
The truth hit Bakura like an iceberg. His back hit the wall and his legs gave out, and he slid to the floor, clutching the Rod desperately. "Oh, gods," he breathed. "What have I done? What have I /done/?"  
  
----  
  
The Shadow Monsters clustered around the doorway, breathing in the scent of the real world - of freedom.  
  
They could sense that the doorway would soon open. Already there was a crack of golden light around the edges. Soon, once again, they would be free.  
  
There was no time in the Shadow Realm, not for the Monsters. For them, it might have been aeons since the last duel. It might have been seconds.  
  
They craved life, freedom, blood. Sacrifice. They longed to be /real/.  
  
As the crack wavered and began to disappear, they howled, screamed, gibbered. Threw themselves against the doorway, crying for vengeance, for death, for /freedom/.  
  
Human minds were so rarely strong. They easily tore apart the words of the spell.  
  
Mokuba, eyes wide, watched the ceremony and heard the Elite Priest falter.  
  
"No," he whispered. "Oh, no."  
  
The Monsters lunged...  
  
The doorway shattered...  
  
They were through. They were free. They were not simple shadows of themselves, they were /real/.  
  
Slyphr cackled, though it came out as a roar, and speared a shrieking priestess with his claw. Blood spurted, and he laughed and laughed and laughed.  
  
There was not enough room for them all here, underground. But that didn't matter. The doorway was open. They could come through at any of a dozen points.  
  
But first, there were these stupid humans to take care of...  
  
----  
  
Between the conception  
  
And the creation  
  
Between the emotion  
  
And the response  
  
Falls the Shadow.  
  
----  
  
Mai used a bedsheet to staunch the flow of blood from Malik's wound. He didn't much care. It really wasn't so bad. The guard had barely grazed his skin.  
  
Bakura was gone, he'd taken the pharaoh with him. Malik didn't understand why Mai, Yugi, and Ryou kept staring at him with such fear. They couldn't know he was a rebel...could they? Bakura would never tell them. That would mean death for Malik for sure.  
  
But they knew something. He could see it in their eyes. And they certainly knew his name.  
  
And it really seemed like Bakura was /cooperating/ with the pharaoh.  
  
Something very weird was going on.  
  
Ryou moaned, and Mai leapt up and hurried to his side. "Are you okay?" Yugi raised his head from his contemplation of the hieroglyphs on the wall to gaze at his friends.  
  
"No, I'm not bloody okay. I'm dying."  
  
"Stop saying that, I hate when you say that. You'll be fine. We'll be home soon."  
  
Malik took the opportunity to get up - not an easy task - and slipped out of the room.  
  
He had to find Shizu, had to get information about the rebellion. Find out who was winning, which side it would make sense to be on.  
  
Probably hers, when all was said and done.  
  
She had plans. Yes. They couldn't lose.  
  
Malik set off for the catacombs, and was thrown to the ground when the palace shook.  
  
----  
  
The workers who were digging irrigation ditches paused in their work and looked up as a cloud moved over the sun.  
  
They heard the roars and screams from the other side of the Nile.  
  
"What do you think that is?" one asked.  
  
"Dunno," another replied, shading his eyes - hardly necessary, since it was growing darker by the second.  
  
They couldn't see the palace. They did, however, see the sudden stream of people fleeing, jumping into the Nile. Better to drown, apparently, than suffer whatever was happening.  
  
Several of the workers ran to the river. They managed to rescue a few, but they were obviously delirious - babbling about monsters and swords and blood.  
  
One of the workers stood up suddenly and stared. He had good eyesight, and could now see the palace.  
  
"Ra save us," he whispered.  
  
There was a huge red dragon lounging on top of the palace.  
  
Someone behind him screamed, and he turned just in time to see a rush of golden feathers and teeth, and then he died.  
  
----  
  
Kaiba found the Millennium Puzzle quite accidentally.  
  
It was complete, sitting on a table in a storeroom he wandered into while looking for his brother.  
  
Kaiba hesitated, then picked it up. It wasn't his, certainly, but it was better to take it himself than let some random Egyptian find it.  
  
- You're not mine - said a voice in his head.  
  
"Er," Kaiba said, and nearly dropped the Puzzle.  
  
- Where is mine? -  
  
"Not...here? I don't understand. This is impossible - "  
  
- A skeptic. I see. Take me to mine. I want to be used. -  
  
"Please tell me it's not a piece of jewelry talking to me," Kaiba said, and instantly felt stupid. Of course it wasn't, and now he was talking to himself. Honestly.  
  
- I am no piece of jewelry, skeptic-magician. I am the Millennium Puzzle. I am the only hope for this world. The Shadow Monsters are free. -  
  
"They can't be," Kaiba said, and regretted it.  
  
- OF COURSE THEY ARE. YOU ARE A MAGICIAN. CAN YOU NOT FEEL IT? -  
  
Kaiba winced. "No need to shout."  
  
- TAKE ME TO MINE. I WANT TO BE USED. -  
  
"I have to find my brother!" Something occured to Kaiba then. He refrained from grinning deviously and said coldly, "I know where your...your owner is. But I won't take you to him unless you help me find my brother."  
  
- That is not my purpose. That is the purpose of the Millennium Ring. If you do not want to die, then take me to my own. -  
  
"Did you ever talk before?" Kaiba asked suspiciously.  
  
- I am not talking now, skeptic-magician. I am only an item, an object. We can't talk. Everyone knows that. Need I ask again? -  
  
Kaiba set off for the pharaoh's bedroom to find Yugi, and wondered what was going on.  
  
----  
  
Between the desire  
  
And the spasm  
  
Between the potency  
  
And the existence  
  
Between the essence  
  
And the descent  
  
Falls the Shadow.  
  
----  
  
Shizu was sitting on the pharaoh's throne when Malik arrived, surrounded by heavily-armed rebels.  
  
"Malik Ishtar," she drawled. "Long time no see."  
  
"I had...other business, Shizu." He bowed his head, his only concession to her self-imposed pharaohship.  
  
"You are hurt," she noted. "Not badly, I trust?"  
  
"Oh, no. I'm all right, really."  
  
Shizu laughed. "Of course. How typical of you. Now, then, I've orders to give, for all of you." She sat forward in the throne, her blue eyes glittering.  
  
"Yes, Shizu?" Malik said, suddenly horribly unsure.  
  
"I want them," she said softly. "The ones bound up in Akil's fate. I want the handmaiden who looks like me, the yellow-haired guard, the slave - I trust we all know which one? I want the pharaoh, the High Priest, and that little boy who follows him around of late. I shall entrust Akil to you, Malik."  
  
"Bakura," he whispered.  
  
"What was that?"  
  
"Nothing, Shizu." Impulsively, irrationally, he added, "What about the slave who looks like Bakura? Akil, I mean?"  
  
Shizu blinked at him. "Who?"  
  
"He's...like Bakura. Almost exactly like. He's dying."  
  
"Bring him, then. I will not even ask how you know that."  
  
"Er, you already gave me a job - "  
  
"Forget it," Shizu said impatiently. "I will find Akil myself. Bring them to me on the cliff overlooking the Nile, you know the one, all of you." She grinned, the sort of grin with a fin on top, slicing through the water. "We will use them to find out what's going on, and then we will kill them."  
  
Malik winced, tipped his head again, and strode off.  
  
He couldn't trust her, but he couldn't trust Bakura, either.  
  
----------  
  
A/N: (whispers) There are two chapters left! And then a threequel with nineteen chapters! But that shouldn't stop the elation of Fallen being nearly complete! And on top of that, I have raspberry lemonade!  
  
Ahem. Okay. I am now thoroughly annoyed, as it seems ff.net no longer allows asterisks. I'm still wondering if they allow the / in summaries yet. Grr. I should email someone about that, instead of stewing quietly.  
  
Not such a terribly long wait here, I guess. The next chapters should come quickly.  
  
Oh, and if you hadn't noticed, I changed my name. I'm now Naodrith, instead of DarkMage Tygress. Don't be alarmed. I have been Naodrith at heart for months; nothing else is gonna change.  
  
Oh, and, I have been reading a lot of Terry Pratchett's books lately, and I kept thinking there were eight Millennium Items instead of seven because of him, and all of you should go read "The Color of Magic" and the rest of his work straight away.  
  
I should really stop talking.  
  
Notes on the Chapter: Hey, those priests? They were introduced in chapter seven. Just thought I'd point that out. Also, the spelling of the Sky- Dragon's name seems to be a point of contest, so I have chosen Slyphr because it looks cool. Go figure.  
  
Next Chapter: Whisper. Many, many kidnappings, along with Malik's desperate search for something to believe in. 


	14. Whispers

Chapter Thirteen: Whispers  
  
Mai sat beside the bed and tried not to look at Ryou. It was entirely too depressing.  
  
Ryou had, shortly after Malik had disappeared, sunk deep into a fever. He was mumbling phrases that made no sense, staring at something that only he could see. Every now and then, he would scream and clutch at the watch on his wrist.  
  
"He's dying," Yugi said softly.  
  
Mai glanced over at the boy, who sat against the wall. "He isn't."  
  
"Yes, he is. I thought we could help him, but I...I don't think we can." One tear, and then another, rolled down his cheek. "Mai, I don't want him to die."  
  
She stood up, brushing dust from her skirt. "I'm going to find Bakura. He should be here, if nothing else."  
  
She barely made it into the hallway before she began to sob, leaning against the wall and burying her head in her hands.  
  
----  
  
Mokuba emerged from his hiding place behind a pillar, staring in wide-eyed horror at the carnage Slyphr the Sky-Dragon had wrought.  
  
"Joey?" he whispered.  
  
The stone altar had broken in two. Joey crawled out from behind it, dragging the Scale. There was blood on his leg and smeared all over his clothes. "I'm okay," he said hoarsely. "Most of it isn't mine. He - the dragon - he threw a priest at me." The blond shuddered. "Let's go."  
  
Mokuba stared at him. "You sound like...like /you/ again."  
  
"It's the pain. It blocks out the voice." Joey stood and shook the Scale for emphasis. "It's talking to me, begging to be used. Taking over."  
  
"Then get rid of it!"  
  
"I can't. It...it /bites/ me if I try to put it down. I'll be okay as long as I'm hurt." He thought about that and blinked. "Did that make sense?"  
  
"Some. Let's get out of here."  
  
They made it to an intersection of four corridors before the Scale kicked in. It somehow tugged Joey to the left, despite his protests. Mokuba followed.  
  
"Just drop it," he cried.  
  
"I told you I can't! Ow!"  
  
After two more turnings, they found themselves at a set of stairs leading up into the palace.  
  
A moment of thoughtful silence passed before Mokuba said, "You know, I would have gone straight back there."  
  
----  
  
Catch me as I fall  
  
Say you're here and it's all over now  
  
Speaking to the atmosphere  
  
No one's here and I fall into myself  
  
This truth drives me into madness  
  
I know I can stop the pain if I will it all away  
  
If I will it all away  
  
----  
  
Yami knelt beside Bakura. "What's wrong?"  
  
"It's my fault. I'm killing him. I did it. I didn't even realize. How horrible is that? Oh, gods..." The tomb robber's shoulders shook with suppressed sobs.  
  
"What? What did you do?"  
  
"See this?" Bakura cried, thrusting his arm out to show Yami the gold-and- crystal watch. "Sathaugula. It's mine, I made the deal with the demon. Ryou didn't mean to use it. It's my fault."  
  
"How many times have you used it?"  
  
"Once, I think." Seeing Yami's confused look, Bakura added impatiently, "I forget it when I don't need it, all right?"  
  
"You haven't forgotten it now," Yami said reasonably, then narrowed his eyes. "But then you could save Ryou."  
  
"What, with this? No, I can't. It's - "  
  
The watch was visible.  
  
Oh, /shit/.  
  
"Move," Bakura barked, leaping to his feet and holding the Rod as if it were a weapon. "We're in danger. Well, /I'm/ in danger, you're in danger by association."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Don't be dense, Pharaoh! It only appears to save me!"  
  
Something smashed through the wall in front of them.  
  
It was a huge panda clutching a bamboo stick. It roared and lumbered toward them, swinging the stick.  
  
"Frenzied Panda," Yami said clinically, then gasped. "Shadow Monster!"  
  
Bakura grabbed the pharaoh's arm and dragged him down the hallway. "Brilliant deduction, Holmes."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Shut up and run!"  
  
They rounded a corner and nearly crashed into three men with swords.  
  
Bakura took in the dark cloaks, the weapons, and the look in their eyes when they spotted Yami. He cursed and tried to back up.  
  
One of the rebels laughed and swung his sword around.  
  
They barely got out of the way, and even so the blade caught Yami's arm. He yelped and put his hand over the wound.  
  
"We're gods, you know," Bakura shouted, looking around. Nowhere to run, save back into the path of the Panda, which he could hear stomping closer. "Can't kill a god."  
  
"Let's see about that," the rebel with the sword said.  
  
Bakura swore again and held out the Rod. "Please let this work," he muttered, and concentrated.  
  
It didn't work.  
  
However, the Panda stumbled into view, spotted the small group, and threw its bamboo stick with a trimphant snarl. Bakura dragged Yami to the floor and watched the stick bowl the three rebels over.  
  
The two former spirits got up, stepped over the rebels, and ran.  
  
----  
  
Malik stepped into the pharaoh's bedroom and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Mai was gone. He'd been rather afraid that she would be there - she was taller than him, and quite possibly stronger, too.  
  
"Malik," Yugi cried, scrambling to his feet. "Where'd you go?"  
  
"I had something to do," Malik said coolly, striding over to Ryou. "Is it just me, or has he gotten worse?"  
  
"He has," Yugi confirmed. "Mai went to find Bakura. I - I think he's dying, Malik."  
  
"Well, I knew that." Malik reached down and pulled Ryou into a sitting position; the boy stared at him with unseeing eyes. "I think I know how to - how to save him. Help me."  
  
In fact, Malik didn't need Yugi's help to get Ryou on his feet - the boy weighed practically nothing.  
  
The worst part of it all, Malik thought, was the look Yugi gave him, eyes shining with hope, when he said, "You can really help him?"  
  
The second worst part was when they accidentally knocked one of Ryou's knees against the wall and his pale skin turned purple with bruises in only a few minutes, and the scream the boy gave when it happened.  
  
----  
  
Don't turn away  
  
Don't give in to the pain  
  
Don't try to hide  
  
Though they're screaming your name  
  
Don't close your eyes  
  
God knows what lies behind them  
  
Don't turn out the light  
  
Never sleep, never die  
  
----  
  
Mai had no idea where she was going, and was thoroughly lost when she ran into Kaiba in the hallway near the kitchens. He was testing the stones on the wall. The Millennium Puzzle was on the floor beside him.  
  
"How do you get into the catacombs, again?" he asked when he caught sight of her.  
  
"I forget." She scrutinized the wall, looking for hairline cracks that would show the existence of a doorway. "No luck, then?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Have you seen Bakura?"  
  
"No." The CEO kicked the wall in frustration. "If he /is/ down there, I'll kill him."  
  
Mai bent to pick up the Puzzle. "What's this doing here?"  
  
"I found it. It wants Yugi."  
  
"I'll go give it to him," she offered.  
  
Kaiba waved a hand at her. "Go ahead. It sort of creeps me out."  
  
Mai stared at him. Other than love for his brother, that was the only sort of human emotion she had ever witnessed him having. "Yeah? Why?"  
  
"It talks."  
  
"Have you had too much sun?" she asked suspiciously.  
  
"I think so, actually." He moved along, pushing at the wall. "Secret doorways. How idiotic."  
  
Mai shook her head, grinning, and headed back in the direction she'd come from.  
  
She heard Kaiba's shout of surprise and turned in time to see two dark- robed figures pulling him along. They saw her just as she saw them, and one of them yelled, "It's her!"  
  
She did the only thing possible: she fled.  
  
----  
  
Joey and Mokuba emerged from the catacombs into a world of chaos.  
  
Kaiba had succeeded in escaping his captors, and crashed into them. They all tumbled to the floor; the Scale skittered away, hit the wall, and lay there.  
  
Several more dark-robed rebels ran up from the other direction. Before any of the three could get to their feet, there were half a dozen swords pointed at them.  
  
"You will stand slowly," one of the rebels said. "You will not use magic against us."  
  
Kaiba raised his hand, but before he could even think about a spell, one of the rebels behind him smashed the hilt of his sword down on the CEO's head. Mokuba shrieked in horror; Joey groaned.  
  
"Stand up," the rebel said again.  
  
The two rebels who had originally grabbed Kaiba hauled the unconscious young man up, though they had to sheath their swords to do so. Joey and Mokuba stood; the blond's eyes went to the Scale, which one of the rebels was nudging with his foot.  
  
"There was a girl," one of the men holding Kaiba grunted. "The one we're looking for. She went that way." He nodded in the general direction Mai had gone.  
  
"What do you want?" Mokuba asked, his voice shaking. "Because we - "  
  
"Oh, it's not us," a rebel chuckled. "It's someone else. Grab the kid, Amir."  
  
Before Mokuba could protest, there was a strong arm gripping his. "Don't make trouble, boy, and maybe you'll live through this."  
  
The rebel investigating the Scale picked it up and examined it closely. "It's gold," he reported.  
  
"We'll hawk it when this is over," the one holding Mokuba said.  
  
Joey was so fixated on the Scale that he had no chance when one of the rebels sheathed his sword and grabbed the blond's arm, twisting it behind his back. Joey gasped in pain.  
  
"We'll use them as bait for the girl," the man said, and laughed coldly. "Let's go."  
  
None of them noticed the way the Scale glowed in the rebel's hand.  
  
----  
  
I'm frightened by what I see  
  
But somehow I know that there's much more to come  
  
Immobilized by my fear  
  
And soon to be blinded by tears  
  
I can stop the pain if I will it all away  
  
If I will it all away  
  
----  
  
Bakura barely caught Yami when the pharaoh collapsed.  
  
"I think," Yami said softly, "that his sword had poison on it."  
  
"No," Bakura said. "They aren't smart enough for that." Poison was more Shizu's thing.  
  
Shizu. Of course.  
  
"Get up," he snapped. "We have to go. Now. It's not safe here."  
  
"I can't feel my legs," Yami said, and closed his eyes, leaning back against the wall. "Is that...bad?"  
  
"Very bad. Very, very bad. Open your eyes, Pharaoh. Come on. Don't do this to me, not now, please."  
  
Yami raised his head. His fingers were clenched around the Millennium Eye. "I can see inside your head. You're afraid of...Mai?"  
  
"No! Not her! You stupid - don't - give me that, you idiot." He pried the Eye out of the pharaoh's unresisting fingers. The Key and the Necklace had been shoved through Yami's belt for safekeeping. "Do any of these stupid Items heal?"  
  
"No." The pharaoh's voice was little more than a whisper now.  
  
Sathaugula was burning. Bakura wrenched at the stupid thing - get it off, get it /off/, it hurt - and paused, suddenly getting it.  
  
It had saved Yugi's life...  
  
But that had been a fluke. It was only there for Bakura. He was in danger just now too, then.  
  
"Stupid," he hissed. "Just...do it, would you?"  
  
"What?" Yami murmured.  
  
The hands of the watch began to spin backwards.  
  
----  
  
Shizu was already waiting on the cliff when Malik and Yugi arrived, by now carrying Ryou between them. The white-haired boy faded in and out of consciousness.  
  
"Two?" Shizu asked mildly. "Nicely done, Ishtar. Grab the slave."  
  
One of the rebels clustered around her stepped forward and seized hold of Yugi's arm. Malik was suddenly forced to support Ryou by himself, and it was surprisingly easy.  
  
Too easy.  
  
Shizu scrutinized the dying boy, ignoring Yugi's cries. "He certainly does look like Akil," she remarked, "but the hair is...different. Less wild. And Akil doesn't have that." She pointed at the watch. "What is that?"  
  
"It's what's killing him, I think," Malik said, and eased Ryou onto the sand, where the boy sat, rocking back and forth and mumbling under his breath, staring into space.  
  
Shizu smiled at Malik, then pointed at the palace. "Any idea what that is?"  
  
He turned, and gaped at the dragon on the roof.  
  
After a moment, he cleared his throat and said, "It would appear to be a, um, dragon..."  
  
Slyphr the Sky-Dragon chose that moment to spread his wings and take flight. He circled the palace several times, and then dove and crashed through one of the walls.  
  
The roar of falling masonry reached them even on the banks of the Nile.  
  
Malik's eyes went to the horizon. There were dark clouds rushing in, fast, too fast.  
  
"I'm getting the feeling," he said, as calmly as he could manage, "that we're all going to die."  
  
"You traitor," Yugi cried. "I knew it. Bakura was wrong to trust you."  
  
Malik tried to ignore the slave, and found that he couldn't.  
  
----  
  
Don't turn away  
  
Don't give in to the pain  
  
Don't try to hide  
  
Though they're screaming your name  
  
Don't close your eyes  
  
God knows what lies behind them  
  
Don't turn out the light  
  
Never sleep, never die  
  
----  
  
Mai had barricaded herself in an armory with a thick wooden door, and had locked it. It was rather a primitive lock, not a lock at all, just a log laid across, but it worked.  
  
The best part for the rebels, aside from the fact that she was now effectively locked /in/ as well, was that the door was riddled with holes. Someone had used it for target practice in the past, the rebel leader guessed. That would make it easier for them to smash it open when someone returned with an axe.  
  
"Handmaiden," he yelled. "We've got your friends out here, handmaiden. Come out and we'll spare them. We don't want to hurt anyone."  
  
"Don't!" the blond yelled. "They're lying!" The leader pulled his arm sharply up, and grinned at the crack of breaking bone, and at the scream from the blond.  
  
"Come out to us, handmaiden, and we will not hurt them further."  
  
There was no sound from within.  
  
"She won't come out," the small boy said in that infuriatingly mild way of his. "She's smarter than that."  
  
There was a crash of falling metal inside.  
  
"Don't try to arm yourself," the leader called, amused. "There are far more of us."  
  
One of the rebels moved forward and put his eye to one of the holes. "It's dark in there," he reported. "I can't - "  
  
His scream was loud and agonized, and he stumbled back with an arrow protruding from his eye. He collapsed, shaking.  
  
It took a few minutes to recover, and then someone said, "She shot an arrow. Through a door."  
  
"Want more?" the girl shouted. "I've got plenty of arrows. Just give me an excuse and I'll use them. Let my friends go and go away."  
  
The leader pushed the blond away. He wouldn't get far, not with that broken arm. "Handmaiden," he snarled. "You cannot win. Just come out - "  
  
The arrow grazed his arm.  
  
"I can't aim well just now," she said, "but you'd do well to stay out of the way."  
  
The rebel who had been sent to get an axe returned then, gazing dispassionately at the fallen rebel, who was now gurgling hopelessly. "Got it, sir."  
  
"Stay out of the way of the holes if you can," the leader said. "Just get it open."  
  
----  
  
Ryou moaned and blinked.  
  
He seemed to be outside. On the sand. How had he gotten there? He couldn't remember.  
  
His leg hurt. He looked down, saw the dark bruise, and vaguely remembered acquiring it.  
  
Someone was shouting.  
  
"He would have betrayed me first!"  
  
"He's been trying to save you, Malik! I guess some people are just irredeemable!"  
  
"You lie! He already betrayed us all - went back to that brother of his and - "  
  
"/Brother/?"  
  
Malik. Yugi. The names floated to the top of Ryou's head.  
  
He realized, suddenly, that he was cold. He shivered and wrapped his arms around himself, teeth chattering. Was Egypt supposed to be cold? He couldn't remember. Cold.  
  
A new voice, one he vaguely recognized, said, "Where are they? How hard is it to find six people?"  
  
"Bakura will fight," Malik pointed out. "You know he will, Shizu."  
  
"I know. He'll suffer for it."  
  
Ryou could feel himself sinking back into the darkness, could feel the icy burn of Sathaugula on his wrist. I am dying, he thought. Why am I not afraid of that?  
  
Just before he lost consciousness again, he thought, Because I still believe that Yami will save me. Of course.  
  
----  
  
Fallen angels at my feet  
  
Whispered voices at my ear  
  
Death before my eyes  
  
Lying next to me I fear  
  
She beckons me, shall I give in?  
  
Upon my end, shall I begin?  
  
Forsaking all I've fallen for, I rise to meet the end  
  
----  
  
Bakura groaned and dragged himself out from under the rocks.  
  
Something - he remembered a glimpse of teeth and blood-red scales - had broken through the wall. He felt a stinging in his head and raised his hand to touch it. It came away covered in blood.  
  
He got to his feet, and realized that he was shaking. He rested a hand on the wall for balance, and saw a glint of gold on the floor. The Eye. He picked it up and slipped it into the pocket of his robes.  
  
There was something else...  
  
The Rod. Yes.  
  
He looked around, slightly dizzy, and finally spotted it near the opening in the wall. He shuffled over and bent to grab it.  
  
Something clicked on the floor. Talons?  
  
Bakura turned his head and saw Slyphr crouching nearby, watching him. It seemed smaller than usual. But of course the Monsters could alter their size, to fit into the different dueling arenas.  
  
Wait. That made no sense.  
  
Bakura grabbed the Rod, and when the dragon didn't make any move, he relaxed.  
  
There was something else he should be remembering. What?  
  
He heard a soft moan and saw something move near Slyphr's foot. No, under the dragon's foot.  
  
"Tomb robber," the pharaoh said, in a horribly calm voice, "there appears to be a dragon on top of me."  
  
"That's because there is," Bakura said, staring at the Shadow Monster. "Don't move."  
  
"I can't. Its claw is on my throat." There was a gasp from Yami as the dragon shifted its weight.  
  
Bakura was thinking much more clearly now. He had not wasted one of his uses of Sathaugula - one of the reasons his hikari was dying, dammit - to save the pharaoh, only to have the idiot die anyway. "I've got a plan," he said, and wished he did.  
  
----  
  
The axe smashed through the door and knocked the log down. Mai held the longbow steady, an arrow nocked and ready, and thanked whatever god was listening that she had gotten so good at archery at summer camp when she was twelve.  
  
There was no one visible.  
  
They were all hiding, then, out of sight, waiting for her to step into the open. She wasn't stupid. She knew that.  
  
She held the arrow in place with one hand and grabbed a staff off the rack with the other. She walked slowly forward, alert to any sounds, and carefully stuck the staff out into the hallway.  
  
A sword slammed down on top of it and knocked it out of her hand.  
  
She swung the bow up again. "Don't even think - "  
  
Someone pushed Joey into view. He was cradling one arm in the other, and his brown eyes were wet with tears of pain.  
  
"Mai," he pleaded. "Just...come out. Please. They - "  
  
"They'll kill us," she snapped, though she lowered the bow. No need for accidents, after all.  
  
"I don't...it's better to...oh, Mai, please. They took my Scale. I /need/ it, Mai."  
  
"Your what?"  
  
She took a hesitant step forward, the arrow pointing at the floor, and peered into the corridor. None of the rebels were close enough to grab her, but there was no hope of running away, and she saw at a glance that she couldn't kill them all.  
  
She dropped the bow and stepped forward.  
  
Two men stepped forward and caught her arms, leering. "Off to see the pharaoh," one of them said, then looked over her head at the other. "Pharaoh...ess? Pharaohess?"  
  
"Pharaoh. I think. Queen? I don't..."  
  
"Shut up," someone snapped.  
  
Mai saw Mokuba, dwarfed by a burly man, and saw the two dragging Kaiba. No one had to hang on to Joey, not with his broken arm. He couldn't get out of the crowd, anyway.  
  
Pharaohess? What were they talking about?  
  
She realized, belatedly, that she had left the Millennium Puzzle in the armory. She twisted to look back, and noticed that someone was carrying it. Good. She had a feeling that it was important.  
  
----  
  
Don't turn away  
  
Don't give in to the pain  
  
Don't try to hide  
  
Though they're screaming your name  
  
Don't close your eyes  
  
God knows what lies behind them  
  
Don't turn out the light  
  
Never sleep, never die  
  
----  
  
Yami winced as the talon nicked his skin.  
  
He couldn't remember how he had gotten into this position, just a sense of fading away and the sudden heavy weight of Slyphr.  
  
He felt the weight lessen. It took him a moment to realize what Slyphr was doing - putting its weight on its back legs, preparing to leap...  
  
"Bakura, move!" he yelled, too late.  
  
Slyphr sprang, his tail lashing out and pulling another wall down. Yami curled up and covered his head, wincing as rocks hit his arms.  
  
He heard Bakura shout, and then...nothing.  
  
Something clattered on the floor. Yami opened his eyes and saw the Millennium Rod rolling toward him.  
  
"No," he whispered, and grabbed hold of it.  
  
Slyphr was gone. So was Bakura. The broken walls and the Rod were all that remained to show that they had been there at all.  
  
Yami staggered to his feet and ran to stare out. He was on the second floor of the palace, he realized, or the third - high up, anyway.  
  
He couldn't see a dragon flying away.  
  
He did see the drops of blood on the ground, leading out.  
  
He ran for the nearest staircase. He had to get outside, had to find Bakura and Slyphr and /do/ something -  
  
Yami wasn't paying attention. It was easy, so easy for the rebels to grab him when he ran past.  
  
----  
  
Don't turn away  
  
Don't try to hide  
  
Don't close your eyes  
  
Don't turn out the light  
  
Don't turn away  
  
Don't try to hide  
  
Don't close your eyes  
  
Don't turn out the light  
  
----  
  
Malik stared out at the Nile, the sudden wind rustling his blond hair. It was getting darker out by the minute, it seemed.  
  
He couldn't trust Shizu, but he couldn't trust Bakura, and so he couldn't trust anyone but himself.  
  
He was /so/ dead.  
  
He heard the voices and the yelling but didn't turn around. He heard Shizu laugh and congratulate someone - four in one go! - but he didn't turn around.  
  
There didn't seem to be any point.  
  
Time passed, how much he wasn't sure. He heard Ryou start to cough, heard the captives yelling about needing a healer, needing to get help. He wondered when Shizu would start telling them her evil plans.  
  
Malik heard the shouts of disbelief from the captives, and Shizu's yell of triumph, when the pharaoh, no longer high-and-mighty, was brought in front of her. He heard someone hit the young man, and Shizu asked, "Where is your godliness now?"  
  
"Ra will punish you," the pharaoh said hoarsely.  
  
Malik watched the golden dragon lope toward the Nile and spring across it, wings spreading to catch the last of the real light before a cloud covered the sun. He heard people murmuring, and ignored them, walking toward it.  
  
The dragon gazed down its beak at him, an imperious look in its eyes.  
  
It was beautiful. It was perfect.  
  
Malik raised a trembling hand toward it.  
  
"Mine," he whispered. "My god."  
  
He heard a scuffle behind him, and then the pharaoh was beside him, in front of him, between him and the dragon. "Don't do this. Don't do this. He /trusted/ you, Malik. Be worthy of him. Don't do this."  
  
Malik didn't take his eyes off the dragon.  
  
"It will kill you, and worse. It will take your soul. It will drive you mad. Please. Don't."  
  
Malik shook his head, for the benefit of the rebels he knew were behind him. "I could have you killed," he said softly. "A word from me, and you die, pharaoh."  
  
The pharaoh stared at him with searching eyes, and then held out something that gleamed gold. "This is yours," he said. "You must make the right decision."  
  
Malik took hold of it. The pharaoh stepped aside, and was grabbed by the rebels, who hauled him away. Doubtless they were terrified of the dragon.  
  
It bent its head to stare closely at him with glittering eyes.  
  
Malik raised the Millennium Rod above his head, and laughed and laughed and laughed.  
  
--------------  
  
A/N: Two chapters in one week! I am awesome!  
  
Sorry. I'm calm now.  
  
Next Chapter: My Last Breath. The last chapter. Here's what you need to know: There will be angst. There will be a ridiculous amount of angst. And, by Ra, there will be an end to the madness! Only not really, 'cause it's only the end of the second story in the trilogy...  
  
Anyway, angst. Bring your tissue box. That is all. 


	15. My Last Breath

Chapter Fourteen: My Last Breath  
  
For awhile, the pain had been bad enough to make purple lights flash in front of Joey's eyes, but now it had settled to a relatively dull, sharp ache.  
  
He was aware that Mai was standing beside him, close enough that he could smell her perfume (and where had she gotten perfume in ancient Egypt? It was a handmaiden thing, probably). But he couldn't bring himself to care. Though it was quieter without contact, he could hear the Scale screaming, and was surprised that the rebel holding it hadn't noticed.  
  
Mai gasped and grabbed his shoulder. "The Millennium Items," she said. "They're all here. Well, except the Ring."  
  
Joey shook his head and looked around. Yes, he could see five of them, and Yami probably had the Eye in his pocket or something.  
  
"Mai," he whispered.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"If that dragon kills us, I want you to know that I do love you."  
  
"I know, Joey."  
  
"I just wanted to make sure you knew that."  
  
"I know." She glanced at his arm. "Does it hurt?"  
  
"It's broken, so yes. It hurts. A lot, really."  
  
The rebels herded their prisoners into a group. Mokuba sat on the sand beside his still-unconscious brother, clinging to his hand with tears running down his cheeks. Ryou seemed slightly better than before - he was standing unaided, but shivering violently every now and then.  
  
Shizu tapped her foot impatiently, glaring at Malik and the Winged Dragon of Ra. She strode over to her captives and crossed her arms. "Where's Akil?"  
  
"Bakura," Yami snapped. "His name is Bakura and - I don't know where he went. I think he might be dead."  
  
Shizu opened her mouth to say something, and stopped when Ryou said hollowly, "He isn't dead. He isn't dead. I'd know if he was dead. I'd know. I can't exist without him. I would be dead. I'm not dead, am I? Not yet. Am I dead? Yugi? Am I dead?"  
  
"No," Yugi said, and turned his tear-filled eyes on Shizu. "Please, you have to let us go. You can have Yami's kingdom. Just let us go find help."  
  
"I don't think it's your kingdom to give away," Yami said gently. "But you may have it - "  
  
"I already have it!" Shizu hissed. "It's mine! And I don't know what Malik is doing with that dragon thing, but at his best he could kill you in an instant! You're in no position to be making deals with me!"  
  
The rebel holding the Millennium Scale suddenly swore and dropped it, sticking his fingers in his mouth. "It burned," he muttered.  
  
Joey dove forward and snatched up the Scale, whimpering when the movement caused a sharp, agonizing stab of pain to shoot up his arm.  
  
The rebels began to close in, but halted when the one clutching the Millennium Puzzle let go with a shriek.  
  
"Don't touch," Shizu commanded, staring at the Puzzle. "I don't know what kind of dark magic this is, pharaoh, but it does not intimidate me."  
  
Yami swallowed. "I, uh, I'm not trying to intimidate you. I don't - "  
  
"They want to be used," Joey said, returning to the group. "They want...to be used. They want to fix this, get rid of the Shadow Monsters. And they know we're the only ones who can use them."  
  
Yugi took a hesitant step forward and, when he was met with no resistance, walked to the Millennium Puzzle and picked it up. He hung the chain around his neck and smiled.  
  
"Then we should use them as soon as possible. I don't know about you guys, but I'd be happier if Malik /wasn't/ communing with the most dangerous of the Egyptian God Monsters."  
  
-----  
  
Hold on to me, love  
  
You know I can't stay long  
  
All I wanted to say was  
  
I love you and I'm not afraid  
  
Oh, can you hear me?  
  
Can you feel me in your arms?  
  
-----  
  
Kaiba was conscious by then, but kept his eyes closed and his breathing shallow. As long as they considered him out of the picture, he had a huge advantage, and he wasn't about to give it up - not even for his sobbing brother's peace of mind.  
  
So he listened, and tried not to move, even though sand had gotten in his robes and was itching fiercely.  
  
"Well, every Millennium Item needs an owner," Yami was saying. "Since Shadi and Isis aren't here, we're going to have to improvise. Who wants the Key?"  
  
"Can I have it?" Mokuba asked, his voice soft and sad. Kaiba winced inwardly; he hated to cause his brother pain like this, but...  
  
A moment of silence, then, "Sure." There was a rustling of fabric as Mokuba stood and retrieved the Key from Yami.  
  
"Necklace?"  
  
A sigh from Mai. "Well, it's kind of a feminine sort of Item, so I guess I'll - "  
  
"No." The hoarse voice of Ryou. "I don't think the Necklace is for you."  
  
"Well, then who? Everyone else has already got one, except Kaiba, and he's not going to be very useful..."  
  
"I can't see anything." Calm, too calm for a dying boy. "It's all gone blurry. I think - "  
  
There was a thud, as of a body suddenly hitting the sand, and the crowded sound of several people reacting to Ryou's apparent collapse. Kaiba tried to keep still - it /itched/, dammit - and hoped for a miracle.  
  
There was a sudden rushing sound, and screams, and then someone /stepped/ on him, and he couldn't help it - he curled up to protect himself, gasping, and opened his eyes.  
  
He was on his feet almost immediately, watching the Sky Dragon chase the rebels toward the palace.  
  
"That wasn't very nice," Malik said, approaching with the Winged Dragon of Ra in tow.  
  
"Hello, tomb robber? Not a very nice person."  
  
Kaiba's head whipped around, as did those of everyone present as a dripping wet Bakura appeared from behind the side of the cliff, where it sloped toward the river.  
  
"You can't swim," Shizu said accusingly.  
  
"Not really," Bakura said cheerfully. "But it's amazing how fast you learn when a Shadow Monster is trying to kill you."  
  
"Akil," Yami said urgently. "We must - "  
  
"Trap the Shadow Monsters, kill the bitch, save our asses?" Bakura suggested, with a devious and horrible grin that reminded Kaiba entirely too much of the times before that disastrous duel in Battle City. Granted, he hadn't seen much of the quiet Ryou's other half, but he'd heard about it. "Yeah," Bakura continued, "that's what I was planning, anyway. You idiots getting yourselves captured kinda screwed up my plots, but at least Slyphr's gotten them to leave us all alone."  
  
"Why?" Joey asked.  
  
Bakura rolled his eyes. "He doesn't want /me/ dead, he wants anyone he can get dead. And, why, look, prey, right here, how convenient. He'll chase anything that moves. They ran. Stupid. Before you ask, pharaoh, he grabbed me and flew off. By the time he decided to let me plunge to my death, the river was right there."  
  
Shizu snarled and tried to leap at him, and was grabbed by Malik. "No," the blond boy said softly. "We're outnumbered, Shizu."  
  
Kaiba didn't understand why almost everyone else immediately turned their heads to stare at Bakura.  
  
The tomb robber laughed. "So I couldn't save you, Malik Ishtar? What a shame. Now I have to kill you."  
  
"You couldn't kill me," Malik sneered.  
  
Bakura tapped the Ring hanging around his neck. "I can do worse," he said, advancing on the blond. "So much worse. With this I can trap you in the place where the Monsters live. And you'll /never die/. They will chase you and tear you and bleed you but you can't die. All eternity in the Shadow Realm, Malik, and there is no escape, not for you. You see, we got out - Mai and Ryou and I. I don't know how, but we did. But I /will not let you get out/. I will make damn sure you stay forever. And the Monsters will kill you, and your beautiful golden dragon will do nothing. Is it your pet, Malik? Your pretty pet dragon? Have you tamed a vicious pretty thing and made it yours? But what happens when you try to tame a tiger, Malik?" Bakura stood nose to nose with Malik, dark eyes shining with malice. "The tiger will not be tamed, Malik. It will shatter its bonds and bite the hand that feeds it. Even your Rod cannot control the Winged Dragon of Ra. It is a god, Malik, your god, and it has the power to destroy you. But, unlike a real god, it does not have the power also to save you." He laughed and tapped the Ring once, for emphasis. "All I have to do is wish it, and you are gone, lost forever. But then...I've already lost you, old friend...good- bye."  
  
"Yami," Ryou whispered behind them. "Yami...don't..."  
  
-----  
  
Holding my last breath  
  
Safe inside myself  
  
Are all my thoughts of you  
  
Sweet raptured light  
  
It ends here tonight  
  
-----  
  
Yugi, kneeling beside the barely-conscious Ryou, watched as Bakura froze in the act of terrorizing Malik.  
  
/He won't do it,/ Yugi thought wildly. /He's evil again, we've lost him, he won't listen to Ryou anymore.../  
  
Very, very slowly, Bakura backed away.  
  
Shizu broke in on the silence. "I have no idea what's going on anymore," she announced, "but Egypt belongs to me. So get rid of these horrible Monsters and we'll talk about your executions, okay?"  
  
"You're outnumbered," Mai pointed out. "Eight to two."  
  
Shizu smirked. "Eight? Let's see. Your dying friend won't be much help, nor will the little apprentice magician. Seto is too worn to manage even a simple spell. Oh, and the other slave boy? He couldn't manage anything. The guard has a broken arm. So, really, it's even. Three on three. Because, remember, /I/ have a dragon."  
  
"The Winged Dragon of Ra will not obey you!" Yami cried. "He is - "  
  
"Mine," Malik said loudly. "He is mine and he will do as I say!"  
  
"/What/ have I been saying?" Bakura asked. "You cannot tame a Shadow Monster! The Dark Magician is as close as anyone will ever get to that, and I bet if he were here Yami wouldn't be able to control him at all! These aren't holograms or cards or a game, Malik, they're real and terrible and /it is going to kill you/."  
  
Malik smiled shakily. "I thought that was what you wanted."  
  
Bakura turned on his heel and stalked over to Ryou, who was making the effort to stand again. "He's fading in and out of consciousness," Yugi explained.  
  
Bakura pulled the Ring off and hung it around Ryou's neck. "It might help," he said softly. He fished in his pocket and produced the Eye, which he handed to Mai. "Yours, love, because without it I never would have found you."  
  
There was a moment of silence before Kaiba said dryly, "So I'm stuck with the Necklace, then?"  
  
Shizu stared, open-mouthed, at Bakura. "You love me," she wailed. "Not that - that - "  
  
Bakura laughed grimly. "Love is a many-splintered thing," he said icily. "And sometimes it's almost indistinguishable from hate. So, if by love you mean hate, then yeah, I love you."  
  
It took her a moment to decipher that; then she gasped and flew forward to pummel his chest with fists clenched hard enough to whiten her knuckles. "I hate you!" she screamed. "I hate you! You're horrible! We were supposed to kill your brother and rule together! What is /wrong/ with you, taking a handmaiden over me?" Shizu spun and pointed at Malik. "Make your dragon kill them! Now!"  
  
Malik raised the Millennium Rod, his eyes focused on Bakura.  
  
"This thing," he said, "says that it can control minds and make them do whatever I want. Whatever I want."  
  
Shizu smirked. "Sure, just do it, now."  
  
Malik glanced over his shoulder at the docile dragon, and, to Shizu's dismay and everyone else's shock, hesitated.  
  
-----  
  
I'll miss the winter  
  
A world of fragile things  
  
Look for me in the white forest  
  
Hiding in a hollow tree (come find me)  
  
I know you hear me  
  
I can taste it in your tears  
  
-----  
  
Yami waved his hand in front of Shizu's face, watching in fascination when she didn't react.  
  
"Am I doing this right?" she asked. A moment later, Malik added, sheepishly, "This is really weird, you know?"  
  
"Why?" Bakura asked. There was a strange, quavering tone to his voice.  
  
Malik shrugged. "I remember you said once that you wanted to be a slave, because they could become the most powerful players in the game. And I wanted to be a priest, because they turn up in the places the kings don't expect them to be." He nodded at Shizu. "She's a king. Sort of. And she wasn't expecting that."  
  
"But /why/?"  
  
"Because the Rod told me to." The blond laughed. "That sounds so wrong. 'It told me to.' Well, it did. Sit down, Shizu."  
  
The blank-eyed Egyptian obediently sat, cross-legged, on the sand, staring at nothing.  
  
Malik turned and lifted a hand toward the Winged Dragon of Ra, which ducked its head so that he could pet it. "I can't keep you," he said wistfully. "What would I do with you? So it's back to the Shadow Realm with you. That's what it's called, right?"  
  
"But - "  
  
"If you say 'why' I'm going to hit you on the head with this Rod, Akil."  
  
"Yes, Malik."  
  
Yami cleared his throat and stepped between the two. "Now, I think, is the time to banish the Monsters, before the palace is completely destroyed."  
  
"How?" Bakura asked, and smirked at Malik. "Didn't say it."  
  
"Well, we know why, Akil, that's just - "  
  
"Shut up!" Yami yelled. "Gods, I don't know what's worse, you two being evil or you two being friends. How. Um. There should be a ceremony - "  
  
Yugi spoke up. "The Puzzle says there isn't, Yami. It says that the Ring has to transport the entire country to the Shadow Realm, first."  
  
"I can do that," Ryou said weakly.  
  
-----  
  
Holding my last breath  
  
Safe inside myself  
  
Are all my thoughts of you  
  
Sweet raptured light  
  
It ends here tonight  
  
-----  
  
It was little more than a ripple and a change of color, and they were in the misty blue world that was the Shadow Realm.  
  
Kaiba took the Necklace from Yami and, protesting heavily, clasped it around his neck. He had /known/ when he met Isis that she would be nothing but trouble, and if - no, when - they got home, he would search her out and inform her that she had completely destroyed any shred of credibility he had with his friends.  
  
Friends? No. CEOs did not have friends. Why had he thought that?  
  
"Now what?" Mokuba asked, one hand holding the Key and the other clutching his brother's hand.  
  
They all immediately looked at Yugi, but it was the Scale, through Joey, that answered.  
  
"I have weighed all of your hearts," it said in Joey's voice. "Metaphorically," it added impatiently. "And I have found you all to be pure-hearted."  
  
"What a relief," Malik said.  
  
"However, to complete the binding, three of you must give your souls to us, to be bound to us forever. To be immortal, but trapped."  
  
Yami and Bakura exchanged glances. "Oh, hell," Bakura said finally. "We knew it was coming. Us. And Malik."  
  
Malik backed away. "I didn't volunteer! I didn't volunteer!"  
  
"You don't have a choice," Bakura snapped. "It already happened."  
  
Joey held the Scale up. "Answer me," it said, "and you must answer truthfully, lest you be cursed. Will you, pharaoh, submit to the binding?"  
  
"I will," Yami said, and Kaiba could tell that he was trying to avoid Yugi's stunned look.  
  
"You speak the truth. Will you, tomb robber, submit to the binding?"  
  
"I...will," Bakura said, with a quick glance at Ryou. "Yes. I will."  
  
"You speak the truth. Will you - "  
  
"No," Malik interrupted. "No, I won't. I don't want to live forever if I have to do it here. Let someone else do it."  
  
"There is no one else."  
  
"Oh, come on. There are six other candidates." He pointed at Shizu, who hadn't moved. "And her! She's evil, she deserves it!"  
  
"Yet you followed her," the Scale said.  
  
Mokuba let go of Kaiba's hand, and before his brother could stop him, strode over to Malik with the Key in hand. It glowed brightly as he held it in front of the boy's forehead.  
  
"And," the Key said, "you were going to betray your best friend to her. You were going to kill him. Even now, you are hoping that the deed you have done in trapping the girl will gain you a pardon for all your crimes. I thought you said he was pure-hearted?"  
  
"When I said 'all,'" the Scale said pointedly, "I obviously did not mean him or the girl he controls. Do I have to spell everything out for you Items? Egad. By 'all' I /clearly/ meant only the time-travelers."  
  
"Then it will be his punishment," Mai said serenely, and it took Kaiba a moment to decide that this must be the Eye. "He will be locked away in the Millennium Rod as his own hell."  
  
"I saved you!" Malik cried, and turned to Bakura. "Akil - Bakura - you can't possibly let them - "  
  
Bakura shook his head. "I don't think that I can stop it, Malik."  
  
"Then we will perform the binding," Kaiba found himself saying, "and the rest of you will be free."  
  
"Wait," Joey said suddenly. "Could we just - say good-bye?"  
  
There was silence.  
  
Then Ryou said, "The Ring will transport us back, leaving the Monsters here. We won't have long, but - "  
  
"Do it," Yami said.  
  
There was a ripple, the colors changed, and they were back in Egypt with the dark clouds boiling above them. The Winged Dragon of Ra had disappeared.  
  
Kaiba blinked, and saw Ryou collapse.  
  
-----  
  
Closing your eyes to disappear  
  
You pray your dreams will leave you here  
  
But still you wake and know the truth  
  
No one's there  
  
Say goodnight, don't be afraid  
  
Calling me, calling me as you fade to black  
  
-----  
  
Bakura caught his hikari just before he hit the sand.  
  
"'Kura," Ryou said through dry lips. "The demon said I'm going to go into a coma soon. So I just want you to know that - "  
  
"No," Bakura snapped. "No. I'm not letting you die because of me."  
  
Ryou shook his head slowly, less for emphasis than because he simply didn't have the strength to move at anything more than half-speed. "Whatever it says, Yami, you didn't murder me. You couldn't have known - "  
  
"But I did know! I knew, all the time, and I forgot, and I'm the worst yami there is, and I'm sorry, and this is not happening to you, you hear me? It's not."  
  
"Zahara said...she's a priestess of Nephthys...she said I'm going to die."  
  
"She's a loony, she doesn't know anything."  
  
Bakura glanced up. With the exception of Malik, who was staring at the Nile, the others were gathered around them in a silent circle. "He's not going to die," he said pointedly.  
  
Ryou coughed and raised a trembling hand to his mouth. It came away stained with blood. "I...really don't think...there's an alternative, Yami."  
  
Bakura glanced at his wrist, then gave it a long, hard stare. "I have one use of Sathaugula left! I could transport us backward or forward or something, to before you found that thing - "  
  
"It's changing time," Yami said. "I don't think we can actually do that."  
  
"Well, he's not dying, pharaoh."  
  
Ryou laughed softly. "I didn't know...you cared."  
  
"Of course I bloody well care! Would I have saved your life in Battle City if I didn't /care/? You stupid little prat. I love you."  
  
Mai, whose eyes were already red, burst into tears at that and buried her face in Joey's chest.  
  
Ryou coughed again and twisted out of his yami's grip. He hit the sand on his hands and knees, coughing violently.  
  
"Right," Bakura said grimly. "If that's the way it is, then."  
  
Nothing seemed to happen, except that the Ring glowed for a moment, but suddenly Bakura was blinking and squinting at everything.  
  
"I can see again," he said in amazement.  
  
Yugi stared at the white-haired boy. "Ryou?"  
  
"I...yes." Ryou stared down at his chest. "The Ring is...Yami!"  
  
Bakura pushed himself onto his knees, a hand over his mouth. "'m okay," he mumbled.  
  
"Oh, no no no," Ryou cried. "/No/. You can't take my body just so you can die for me. That's /cheating/."  
  
"Tomb robber," Bakura pointed out wearily.  
  
-----  
  
No one was more surprised than Kaiba when a demon appeared behind him.  
  
It brushed past him and hovered over the two white-haired boys, one light, one dark. "My Sathaugula," it breathed. "Soon it will be mine, mine!"  
  
Ryou got to his feet a bit too fast, probably still stunned by being able to move, and doubled over, clutching at his head. "Ow. You can't have him, demon, he's my yami."  
  
The demon looked between them. "I see," it hissed. "A switch. Ah, well, I don't care. A sacrifice is all it takes, and she will be mine again, my Sathaugula."  
  
"No," Ryou wailed. "No, no, no."  
  
Bakura reached for the Ring and closed his eyes.  
  
There was a ripple, and a shift in the color spectrum, and they were back in the Shadow Realm.  
  
"There," the tomb robber gasped. "Part of me is in it, I'm bound to it, history is fulfilled, yadda yadda yadda. Can I die now? This is remarkably painful."  
  
"The pain is necessary," the demon said.  
  
Mai let go of Joey and leapt onto the demon's back, hitting it around the head. "You can't kill him!" she screamed. "He's mine! I love him! Go away!"  
  
It took Joey and Kaiba both to drag her off, although, to be fair, Joey could only use one hand. The demon glared at her. "Girl, a deal was made and broken. It must be paid for with blood."  
  
"Ryou," Bakura interrupted. "Give me the watch."  
  
Ryou blinked and reached for his wrist, and looked surprised when the watch actually came off. He handed it to his yami. "You're going to save yourself now, right?" he asked hopefully.  
  
"Nope, I'm done for. I'm going to save the rest of you." Bakura waved Sathaugula at the demon. "One use left, idiot, or else we wouldn't be in this predicament. Hold onto each other, guys, I don't know how well this thing's going to work."  
  
"What?" Yami asked intelligently.  
  
"Oh, yeah, bind yourself to the Puzzle right now." Bakura tilted his head, though the effect was spoiled by a sudden bout of coughing. When he could breathe again, he said, "I'm sending you back, you morons."  
  
Joey grabbed Mai's hand. She glared at him and shook him off, running to Bakura.  
  
"No," she whispered, and kissed him on the mouth. She came away with red lips, red with blood.  
  
"Love you," Bakura said, and brushed a tendril of blonde hair out of her face. "Go."  
  
"There must be - "  
  
"There isn't a way, Mai. Go."  
  
However, as soon as the more-practical Kaiba and Yami managed to drag her away, Ryou took her place, throwing his arms around his yami's neck.  
  
"Don't leave me don't leave me don't leave me..."  
  
"You stupid prat," Bakura said gently. "We're running out of people to drag you off me. Go."  
  
Ryou pulled away, tears flowing down his face. "I'd rather die than live without you," he declared.  
  
"That's just too bad, isn't it?"  
  
It took a few more minutes, but eventually they were all holding on, though Mai was merely holding Kaiba's sleeve, since he didn't exactly want to hold hands with her. Yami held the Puzzle, which glowed, and then threw it onto the ground. The others divested themselves of their Items as well.  
  
"You know what to do," Bakura said to the watch, and then, "Good-bye."  
  
A flash of light, and he was alone with the demon and Malik.  
  
A ripple, and they were in Egypt.  
  
Malik clung to his Rod. "You're dying," he said.  
  
"No kidding."  
  
"I'm going to be stuck forever in this thing?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
Malik stared at his friend. "They called you time-travelers."  
  
Bakura rolled his eyes. "Well, this is cliche. Hi, Malik, nice to see you, I'm from the future. Incidentally, don't buy that car, and when you meet Marcy, run away."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Get in the Rod, Malik."  
  
Malik vanished, and the Rod clattered to the ground. Bakura suspected that his friend hadn't had the slightest bit of choice in that.  
  
The demon stared at him. "Would you die already?"  
  
Bakura, with arms that felt like logs, pulled the Ring off and tossed it onto the Rod. "I'm going to be in that thing for five thousand years," he murmured. "At least that part of me will survive...for awhile."  
  
For a time, silence.  
  
The demon waited.  
  
Lightning flickered in the dark sky, and rain began to fall. The survivors of the Shadow Monster attack emerged from their hiding places to rejoice in the end of the brief war.  
  
Still the demon waited.  
  
The huddled figure in the sand did not move.  
  
After a time, there was a barely-discernible click, and a gold-and-crystal watch rolled onto the sand.  
  
Eventually, the Egyptians found the body and interred it in the royal tomb.  
  
They never knew what had happened to their pharaoh.  
  
It was the end of a dynasty.  
  
The end of an age.  
  
-----  
  
Holding my last breath  
  
Safe inside myself  
  
Are all my thoughts of you  
  
Sweet raptured light  
  
It ends here tonight  
  
-----  
  
"Is the boy ready?"  
  
"No, sir. He is weak, he is ill. Something has changed - "  
  
"And yet," the first voice interrupted coolly, "our plans cannot, will not, change. Things change, people change, but it matters not. The plan stays the same - the one constant in our shattered world."  
  
"The world is not broken."  
  
"If you think that...then you have never tried to see through open eyes."  
  
A pause. "Sir, I'd like to think that - "  
  
"That what? That you are open-minded? Well, my friend...think again. You are fallen, you are lost. 'How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning?'"  
  
A glint of gold and crystal. A sharp intake of breath.  
  
"Sir!"  
  
"I see you know this. And do you know the price?"  
  
"I know it well. But, sir - "  
  
A laugh, cruel and harsh. "I would not place myself in jeopardy. It will not be I who pays the price. Nor will it be you."  
  
"Then..."  
  
"It will be the one who almost paid. The one who is already in debt."  
  
"As you will it, sir."  
  
It would be the beginning of an era, if all went according to their plans.  
  
The beginning of an age.  
  
-----  
  
A/N: Something wicked this way comes. This is the beginning of the end.  
  
Well, no. It's the end of the beginning, really.  
  
Now, you see why this must be a trilogy? I can't end it there. I'm cruel, not sadistic.  
  
Bonus points to anyone who can guess the speakers in that last scene! 


End file.
